MASK: Legacy Saga 4: Redemption
by Lisa L
Summary: With help from an outside source, can MASK return itself to its former glory?
1. Chapter 1

MASK: Legacy Saga 4: Redemption

After a long hiatus, we're back with MASK Legacy Saga 4-Redemption! Thanks to everyone who reviewed the long overdue ending to Legacy Saga 3-Fallen. We appreciate you hanging in there with us...you fans inspire us to write more.

Disclaimer: We don't own ANYONE but Annie Turner (Darster) and Roxanne Trakker (Lisa). Jessenia Hayes belongs to Freespirit127. We don't own ANYONE else. NO ONE else. NOBODY. Wondering about the mysteriously cryptic use of CAPS? Read and find out! And please review! :)

Chapter 1

Thunderhawk, Phoenix, and Gator cautiously drove down Mexico highway eight. MASK had received intelligence from Gi Joe command that VENOM had allied itself with a powerful drug cartel. The border patrol was no match in preventing drug trafficking, with VENOM offering safe escorts back and forth across the border.

"Doesn't this bring back memories?" Jess remarked driving Gator.

"Nothing pleasant," Annie groaned under her mask driving her motorcycle Phoenix, "The last time we headed down this road we were kidnapped and bounded together in a back of a truck."

Jess replied jokingly, "At least we can enjoy the scenery this time."

"What the heck is wrong with VENOM anyways?" Annie quipped," Re-using old hideouts they've never done that before."

"Despite what you may think it was clever of them to do so," Scott replied manning Thunderhawk. "They manage to go undetected for 3 months. Breaking their normal routine makes them all the more unpredictable, especially considering who's in charge of VENOM now'n days."

"I absolutely hate that place nothing but bad memories. Buddy almost dying, having to face both Mayhem and Vanessa, and not to mention getting shot," Annie grumbled out loud.

"Think about it Annie," Jess replied, "Would any of us be here if it hadn't been for that experience?"

"Hard to say. Though it would have suited Dad just fine had I not signed up."

"I heard that." Brad Turner was sitting in at Boulderhill providing behind the scenes mission support.

"No time for trips down memory lane, "Scott broke up the discussion, "Looks like their expecting us."

Stinger, Manta, and Iguana were driving side by side with two jeeps equipped with machine guns attach to their roll bars. Each jeep carried several Mexican men holding semi-automatic rifles.

"Five to Three. I say I like those odds very much, "Lester laugh obnoxiously, "MASK is going down for good this time."

"Not much of a challenge if you ask me, "Bruno remarked slightly disappointed, "Can't believe she made us take them along with us."

"Probably best they stay back anyways while we deal with MASK, " Vanessa added, "Last thing I need is to go back with casualties and have a vendetta against Contra World."

"I got this Vanessa, "Lester eagerly spoke up. He drove Iguana right next to one of the jeeps and started shouting to the driver. "Perro vas diparar los aseos." The driver of the jeep glared and growled at Lester and started to cuss him out in Spanish.

"Idiot!" Vanessa shouted. "I told you before to keep your mouth shut and don't address anyone in Spanish!"

Bruno laughed at loud, "That's telling them Lester calling them dogs and telling them to shoot the toilets."

"Lo siento que tus hombres toman la parte posterior." Vanessa said over the airways to both jeeps.

"Si Senora" one of the men replied and then both jeeps came to a halt. Several men hopped out of each jeep readying their guns, awhile another man stood up on the back of each jeep manning the roll bar machine gun that was directly aimed at the oncoming MASK vehicles.

"What did you tell them?"

"That you have pea mush for brains."

"HEY!"

"They will hang back for support while we go head to head with MASK." Vanessa explained as she converted Manta from a car to an assault plane and flew towards Thunderhawk, which was also preparing to take to the sky.

Bruno converted Stinger into an armored tank and started firing its front mounted mortar at Gator. While Lester morphed Iquana from a normal 4 wheel ATV to an assault vehicle with front spinning blade and rapid fire bazookas aimed directly at Phoenix.

Scott was having the usual cat and dog chase in the sky with Vanessa. Both Thunderhawk and Manta exchanging lasers but neither one had a direct hit. Meanwhile on the ground both Jess and Annie were struggling. Both were expose by their MASK vehicles not providing enough protection from the oncoming bullets the Mexican cartel was firing at them.

"This is just too much…I can't fight and dodge at he the same time, " Annie remarked with Lester directly on her tail. Phoenix swerved out of the way just in time as she saw another spray of bullets headed her directly.

"They SHOT ME!" Lester cried out agony as a bullet grazed his shoulder in an attempt to dodge the attack.

"FOCUS LESTER!" Vanessa shouted over the air way.

"I second that!," remarked an extremely stress out Jess in response to Annie. She could barely see out her cracked windshield, and Gator was getting punctured with bullets left and right. Jess found herself having to drive hunched down in the driver seat to avoid making herself an easy target, "A camouflage vehicle color or even an oversize shield would be nice about now." She attempted to drive Gator away from the oncoming gun fire, but then she suddenly notice the tires were just spinning in place. "Shit what the."

Bruno laugh as his mask Magna beam was lock onto to Gator and pulling the vehicle back towards the firing squad, "Where do you think you're going little girl?"

"You can sound the horn to call the cavalry in anytime now...Scott!" Jess pleaded with urgency.

A blue diesel semi-truck rammed straight into the back of Stinger, causing Bruno to lose his connection with Magna beam. "What the hell! Where did that thing come from?"

"Vanessa! " Lester screamed, "That thing didn't come alone!"

"What the?"

Over the horizon, the three VENOM agents could see three more vehicles approaching their location, an orange tow truck with the number 67 on it, a red and white T-bird stock car with the number 5 on it, and blue street bike/hovercraft.

"Time for our debut boys!" Falcon stated with excitement from the stock car Razorback.

"Finally we get to use some actual targets, " Chuckles remarked from blue bike/hovercraft Bullet.

Falcon smirked under his mask eclipse, "Lets show VENOM who their messing with."

"YOOO JOE!" Cross country hollered from the tow truck wildcat.

"You ok?" A young man wearing a hawk shape mask painted red, white, and blue asked rolling down the window of the blue semi-truck Bulldog.

Jess smiled as Bulldog position itself to shielded Gator from the oncoming bullets, "I'm good Hi-Tech thanks for the assistance. I'm gonna fall back and let you take over. By the way you might want to convert your vehicle were not out of the woods just yet," She giddily replied hearing the bullets hammering the semi-truck's other side.

"Uh yeah… just wanted to make sure you're all right," Hi-Tech said sincerely. "GOOO MASK! " He shouted as he converted the blue truck into an armored half-track vehicle.

Jess snickered lightly, "At least somebody knows what team they belong to."

"YEEE-HAWWWW!" Cross Country hollered from Wildcat. "Time to turn on some fightin' tunes! Can't expect me to ride into battle if I can't play my country-western music!"

Jess swiftly turned Gator to avoid more of the Mexican bullets and Stinger's claw, muttering to herself as she heard the country tune in the radio's background, "My God, he's worse than my Dad!"

"Turn that shit off!" Falcon shouted to Cross Country over the link, firing Razorback's lasers at Manta to give Scott some air support. "I'm trying to drive here!"

A light-bulb went off in Scott's brain. "That gives me an idea. Phoenix, do you still have that jamming capability programmed on your bike?"

Annie was riding Phoenix in donuts around the Mexican Jeeps, attempting to cause their occupants to shoot mostly at each other instead of her as well as cause Lester more grief. Chuckles joined the fray on Bullet, riding in figure eights to maximize the confusion.

"Buddy installed it before he left but it's never been field tested."

"Now's your chance. Work with Cross Country and find a suitable 'fighting tune' to disrupt VENOM's communications. I'll watch your back in Thunderhawk. The rest of you keep a sharp eye on Manta. If this works, Vanessa will be the first to figure it out."

"Alright Bobby, let's take VENOM for a ride in the country. Got any done 'em wrong songs in that arsenal?" Annie asked.

"I think I got just the one," Cross Country grinned maniacally as the CD changer flipped the disk. "You jus' say the word."

"Let's see if someone will oblige me and verify the right frequency."

Annie split Phoenix from the string of jeeps, turning to head back toward Lester in Iguana, dialing in a radio frequency as she rode. "This is radio station MASK from Phoenix. Request lines are now open. You sir, in the not so bad ass ATV, what would you like to hear today?"

"Uhhh...well...how 'bout the Stones? Boss says I'm always high..."

"That's MASK you moron!" Vanessa hissed over VENOM's secure frequency. "How many times do I have to tell you to SHUT UP!"

"We've got them! Now Cross Country!"

Cross Country tuned to the proper frequency and Travis Tritt's "Here's a Quarter, Call Someone who cares" blasted to life over enemy airwaves. No matter what they tried, they couldn't lose the country tune or communicate with each other.

"Damnit! They're jamming us!" Vanessa pounded Manta's steering wheel in frustration as Scott pressed her in Thunderhawk, firing lasers non-stop.

"Don't you come round here handin' me none of your lies..." sang the voice on the radio, "...Here's a quarter, call someone who cares..."

Vanessa reviewed her options as she realized she wouldn't get much help from the two idiots on the ground now that the radio was jammed. She sent Manta into a barrel roll to avoid another laser barrage from Thunderhawk, putting her in direct line of sight with Phoenix. Realization set in as she realized who was responsible for jamming communications and why Thunderhawk continued its relentless assault.

She pulled out of the barrel roll and skimmed past the Mexican Jeeps, rolling down Manta's window and screaming at the top of her lungs, "Pare aquel Camaro rojo y moto negra!"

Vanessa couldn't believe her luck when one of the Mexicans actually pulled out a rocket launcher and fired into the air at Thunderhawk.

"Shit!" Scott cursed as the oncoming projectile forced him into a tail spin.

The temporary distraction was enough of an opening for Vanessa. She cackled gleefully and unleashed a missile barrage down at her daughter on Phoenix. "Try and jam this!"

"Damnit!" Scott panicked. "Phoenix, you've got incoming!"

"Now that ain't no way to treat your own flesh n' blood!" Cross Country fumed from Wildcat.

"Welcome to the MASK Drama Club, boys," Jess quipped dryly from Gator. She had a temporary reprieve from the gunfire as the Mexicans concentrated all their firepower on Phoenix and Thunderhawk.

"I think it's a requirement when you sign up," Chuckles joked, trying to lessen the heat on Phoenix with Bullet.

"Well, that explains how I got here," Falcon laughed. "Duke sent me chasing after some other saucy redhead instead of Scarlett."

"That's my partner you're talking about!" Scott roared jealously over the link.

Both jeeps had rocket launchers firing incessantly at Thunderhawk, which only increased his frustration. He had no way of following through on his promise to watch Annie's back.

"And my daughter!" Brad growled over the link from Boulderhill.

"Excuse me, but the saucy redhead currently has two missiles headed straight for her!" Annie picked up speed to try to gain some distance. "Second, I hate being discussed in the third person. Third," Annie's last remark was directed at Brad, " 'behind the scenes' means exactly that unless you have something constructive to add..."

"Matter of fact I do," Brad answered calmly, ignoring his daughter's commentary. "A little trick I used back in the day. Phoenix, you're gonna drive under Razorback so Falcon can shoot those missiles

"One's already too close," Falcon grimaced. "You got some firepower on that bike, Phoenix?"

"In a manner of speaking..."

"This is no time to play coy...do you or not?!"

"Just watch your comm panel and try not to get me killed!"

Annie reminded herself that she and Buddy had purged and rebuilt Phoenix's computer system, but that didn't stop her from having a temporary flashback to the last time she used Phoenix's Fire Flight mode. She shook it off and activated the pre flight auto navigation sequence.

"Computer, ready Phoenix Fire Flight...target vehicle Razorback. Notify user Falcon and require voice confirmation of readiness."

"Confirmed Phoenix," Falcon's voice was military cool. "Razorback is standing by."

Annie bypassed 65 mph and closed her eyes, leaning low over Phoenix's handlebars while trying not to visualize the two oncoming missiles. Buddy my friend, wherever you are, wish me some luck. "Computer, activate Fire Flight. 5 second countdown to user Falcon."

"5...4...3...2...1!"

"FIREWALL ON!" Annie shouted.

Phoenix's afterburners kicked in, causing the first missile to land and explode the ground where the bike had been only moments before. Only a jet of flame showed her path toward Razorback.

Falcon rolled his eyes. "That's not what I meant by firepower!"

"Falcon, pay attention!" Scott nearly fell out of Thunderhawk. "She's almost there...transform, NOW!"

Falcon obliged, transforming Razorback from a stock car to armored tank seconds before the jet of flame representing Phoenix slid under his bowed frame. He turned and easily blew up the second projectile.

"Maverick, we lost the jamming signal to VENOM," Hi-Tech reported.

"As long as that's all we lost," Scott replied. He opened up his private channel to Phoenix. "Annie?"

"Have I told you how much I HATE Mexico?! We are NOT coming here on our honeymoon!"

Scott managed a laugh despite dodging multiple rockets. "I promise."

"Good! Now that we've settled that, let's hurry up and finish this."

Iguana drove up alongside Bullet, "Here's sludge in your eye!," Lester Sludge laughed as his mask Mud Slinger sprayed mud over Chuckles mask Vortex.

"That is just gross!" Chuckles remarked trying to wipe the mud off his mask and maintain control of his vehicle Bullet.

"So we got ourselves a hillbilly who likes to play in the mud," Cross Country stated as he converted Wildcat's front end to a vertical fighting machine. "Good thing I know a thing or two about that too." Wildcat concrete cannons shot out oozes of gray thick liquid 20 feet in front Iguana.

"HA you think that gonna stop me!" Lester increase the speed on Iguana expecting to cruse right through the liquid wall, but to his sudden surprise Iguana slammed into a hard concrete wall and he went flying into the wall as well.

"Ouch! That's got to hurt!" Cross Country mock, "Better make sure you stay put so you don't hurt yourself more'n necessary." More liquid concrete poured out from Wildcat cannons, this time surrounding Lester and his vehicle Iguana on all four sides.

Lester shook his head as he recovered from the unexpected impact and realize he was boxed in. "You really think this is gonna hold me! I'll blast my way out!" His attention then turned to Iguana's bazookas, but realizes both guns were bent over due to the vehicle's impact against the concrete wall. "Ok well I'll just have to climb the dang thing, " He stood up on Iguana and attempted to jump the wall, unfortunately he was a foot short and fell backwards on the ground. "How on do I get out of here?" he starts waving his hands "Help me! I'm trapped!"

"Absolutely pathetic!" Vanessa cried out, "I don't have time to deal with you, Bruno take care of him."

"I would but my guns are hammering that armored truck and it's not doing a lick of damage, " Bruno replied.

Hi-Tech cackled gleefully from inside Bulldog's cab and opened up a channel to Gator. "Hey Freespirit, how about putting down a rabid Mad Dog?"

"You bet! I'd love to pay that son of a bitch back!"

"All right. Stay close, and when I give the signal, overheat his engine. Then me and Bulldog will put him on ice for good!"

"Ready when you are!" Jess confirmed.

Hi-Tech turned Bulldog just in time to connect with a pathetic swipe from Stinger's claw, rendering it useless. This positioned him right in front of the armored tank's windshield.

"NOW!" Hi-Tech yelled. "PATRIOT ON!"

Red, white, and blue fireworks shot out of the hawk shaped MASK, dazzling the already befuddled Bruno Shepard. "Hey, no one told me it was the Fourth of July!"

Jess buzzed by Stinger in Gator, aiming her mask directly at the tank's engine. "THERMIC-HEAT!"

Smoke began rolling out from under Stinger's hood as Patriot's fireworks died. Flames started picking up around the hood before Bruno finally found a clue. "MY BABY!" he screamed like a little girl.

"You heat em up, I cool em down," Hi-Tech laughed, firing Bulldog's smokestack Blizzard Cannons at the fireball becoming Stinger, freezing all its systems.

Jess drove away on Gator, thumbing her nose at Bruno. "How do you like being put on ice?!"

"Stupid bitch you think I'm gonna let get away with messing with my car!" Bruno exited Stringer and ran towards one of the jeeps. Instead of taking cover, he hopped up on the back of the jeep and pushed the Mexican man aside who was operating the roll bar machine gun, "OUT OF MY WAY!"

Bruno intensely followed Gator with the machine gun and made every shot count. Both back wheels of Gator went flat and a few shots nicked off Jess's mask.

"Somebody doesn't know when to quit…I think it time you boys put the toys away?" Chuckles remarked "Vortex on!" A giant tornado went towards the two jeeps. The men stop firing their guns and started to scramble on the ground, but the wind tunnel proved to be more powerful than they expected. Bruno tried to hold tight to the roll bar but found his body forcefully flying in the air about 30 feet from where he was.

The gun fire on the ground finally came to a complete halt. The two jeeps were buried in sand along with several of the Mexican cartel members who were knocked out by the sheer force of the wind power.

"Now that's what you call a clean sweep!" Falcon remarked.

"Not really," Annie remarked looking up at the sky watching Thunderhawk and Manta still chasing after one another.

"I'll give them both wake up call. Scott, heads up sending a going away present to Vanessa," Falcon smirked as he activated Razorback's prism missile. The missile exploded in the sky and emitted several blinding flashes of life. Scott was able to maneuver Thunderhawk just enough to avoid the bright light in the sky.

"Maybe I should brighten her day a little more. SOLAR FLARE, ON!" Scott shouted, directing the MASK's beam back at Vanessa.

"AHHH!" Vanessa cried out as she attempted to shield her eyes and blindly fly Manta. "Where the hell did that come from? Are you guys doing anything down there?" As her eyesight started to return she notice the only people remaining on the ground were MASK, "This is not good."

"VANESSA!" Bruno screamed from the ground waving his hands.

She did a quick loop in the sky to turn around and swooped Manta low enough to allow Bruno to hop into the vehicle. She quickly took manta up in the air and fired the jets to get as far away as possible, "I'll get you next time MASK!"

As Scott landed Thunderhawk on the ground, Falcon shouted, "What the hell are you doing?! I gave you that opening to go after her!"

"Please don't forget who is in command here, Falcon," Scott removed Solar Flare and shot the G.I. Joe lieutenant a pointed and somewhat dark look. "There are enough bad guys to clean up here first. I'll get her another day."

"He's right," Annie removed Firewall and stepped in to show solidarity. "Besides, who knows what kind of death trap she'd have waiting. If she'll fire missiles at me, there's no telling what she'd do to him."

Annie was going to say more but stopped as she notice that Jess was still sitting in Gator's driver seat. Has she been sitting there the whole time? The gun fire stop about 15 minutes ago and she hasn't moved a muscle. She drove Phoenix away from the group, placing a gentle hand on Jessenia shoulder, "You ok?"

Jess removed her mask and set it down in front of her. The mask was chipped in several spots were Bruno had successfully hit her. She could still feel the force and remember the sound of the bullets hitting her mask. Tears erupted down Jess face as she realized how close to death she came.

She's in shock. "It's alright it's over now. Let me help you…"

Jess put her hand up in protest and quickly dried her eyes, "I can't let the guys see me like this. They're already looking over here."

"Alright," She took the hint not to touch the subject, instead dismounting to glance back and make a show out of pretending to look at Gator's damage.

"How about you pretend I asked you to hop on the back of Phoenix and we'll ride over together."

Jess nodded and got on the back of Phoenix after Annie, holding her hands tightly against her friend's back more so for comfort then to hang on.

"Scott will be expecting I ride rounds, so let's take the long route and have a look at Stinger first."

Chuckles and Cross Country left Bullet and Wildcat respectively, removing Vortex and Ditcher as they walked up to where Falcon and Scott stood.

"Those girls all right, boss?" Cross Country asked Scott. Always the Southern Gentleman, he watched Phoenix pull away from Gator with a look of concern. "They were taking the brunt of the heat out there y'know?"

Scott shaded his eyes and cast a glance in the distance to see Annie shoot him a black gloved thumbs up as she and Jess took off toward Stinger's last position, which meant she'd noticed them watching.

"Thumbs up. They're fine. Just the usual riding rounds after battle."

Scott was about to survey the situation himself when he was interrupted by Hi-Tech jogging up from Bulldog. "Scott, I think we've got a small problem. There's a Mexican military convoy headed in our direction. They're only speaking in Spanish on all the known frequencies. That's all I've been able to figure out...other than they don't sound happy."

Falcon reached through Razorback's open window and tuned into several frequencies, listening intently. "Not happy is an understatement..."

Before Scott could question him further, Annie's slightly panicked voice broke in on an emergency channel. "Scott, this would be a great time to step back and let Falcon show us his mastery of the Spanish language. Something along the lines of 'please don't shoot' would be a lovely start considering there's some Mexican Officials riding Jess and I down...fast."

Falcon looked askance at Scott, who waved him on, "By all means, go! Get them out of there if you're fluent in Spanish!"

"It's in my personnel file," Falcon stated as he queued up the radio, adding under his breath, "that you should have read."

"Cese el fuego! Esto es Lieuenant Falcon de la máscara de G. I Joe tareas. Cese el fuego! Siga la motocicleta y explicaremos"

"Lo mejor como lo que escuchamos G. I. Joe o usted será arrestado" replied the angry Mexican voice.

Falcon tuned back to the emergency frequency, "Annie, lead them in here slowly and don't make any sudden moves when you stop. They're threatening to arrest us if they don't like our explanation."

"Coming in now. Two more Jeeps and an armored truck full of soldiers. God, I HATE Mexico!"

Scott nearly pulled Annie out of Phoenix's driver seat as soon as she parked the bike. Hi-Tech offered Jess a hand, which the still shaken girl gladly accepted. Within minutes, the soldiers from the armored truck had the seven MASK agents surrounded, guns leveled on all of them. Falcon raised his arms and stepped out toward the Mexican firing squad as the commanding officer approached.

"We've been greeted better'n this by COBRA," Cross Country joked, attempting to lighten the mood.

"And everything's riding on Falcon," Chuckles added. "Good thing he's a fast talker...we might actually have a chance at getting outta here."

"Long as his hot head don't engage his big mouth."

"Settle down you two." Annie leaned into Scott as his hands rested nervously on her waist. "We don't want to make this any worse."

"¿por favor habla usted inglés?" Falcon asked the Mexican Commander.

"No hable inglés. ¡Ahora explíquese antes de que yo le haga detener!" came the reply. Guns waived in the air for emphasis.

Falcon cast a quick glance toward Scott, who had no choice but to nod acknowledgement to continue. A rapid fire Spanish conversation ensued while the rifles stayed rock steady on the rest of the team.

"I don't like this," Scott pitched his voice low for only Annie's ears. "That should be me out there."

"He knows that," Annie soothed. "But they don't speak English and this is not the time for our bad, halting Spanish. This is the time for us to lean on our team's specialties."

"It's what he's saying that worries me."

"Scott, let me ask you a question..." Annie kept her voice soft and calm. "Would you be so irritated if that was Bruce or Alex or Hondo or...Dad...out there speaking Spanish to those Mexicans?"

Scott never answered. His eyes were frozen on Falcon cautiously putting his arms down and reaching for his ID card. Scott watched as the G.I. Joe Officer said a few more words to the commander, who looked at Falcon's ID and suddenly seemed to relax.

Scott's hands clenched into fists against Annie's sides. "I think he just told them we're G.I. Joe..."

Annie caught Scott's arms and held them at her waist to prevent him from doing something stupid. "You don't know that. And if he did, so what?"

"Annie, how can you even ask that?!" Scott's voice hissed in her ear. "You know damn well this is a MASK mission!"

"And MASK's reputation was flushed down the toilet thanks to Jon Mayhem." Annie's voice remained cool as she delivered her object lesson. "If Mexico needs to think we're G.I. Joe to get this job over with and get out of their god forsaken country, then that's what we need to let them think."

"Why aren't you backing me on this?!"

"Scott, I am. But I also work law enforcement and know the danger of jurisdiction wars. Too much time wasted arguing about who is in charge can make the difference between life and death. In this case, ours."

"The MASK team is important to me...it was my father's and my uncle's, and now it's mine..."

"I know," Annie squeezed Scott's hands in a comforting gesture, "and I know the idea of working with G.I. Joe is not easy for you. So if you won't trust them just yet, please trust me and my experience, okay?"

Scott's reply was lost in howls of laughter from the Mexican Army. The soldier's rifles dropped as the commander slapped Falcon on the back in a show of camaraderie.

"Basura en la playa. ¡Haha! Usted es un hombre gracioso, el Teniente Falcon. ¡YO JOE!" the commander shouted, motioning the soldiers toward the back of the truck.

"YO JOE!" the soldiers replied in unison as they all piled into the back of the truck and drove off with the jeeps toward the location of the buried Mexican Cartel.

Annie breathed a sigh of relief. "I think we won..."

Annie let Scott's hands drop and slipped one of hers around his waist as Falcon approached. Even he looked a little nervous as he stepped up to deliver his report.

"Mission accomplished. They're helping us take out the Mexican trash while we clean up after VENOM." Falcon paused, then looked Scott directly in the eyes and said honestly, "I had to make them think this was a G.I. Joe controlled operation to do it. They weren't very trusting when I mentioned MASK."

"I was reminded of that just now," Scott sighed. After too long of a pause, he felt Annie's fingers jabbing him in the ribs, prompting. "Good work Falcon."

Falcon smirked back and fired off an Army-perfect salute. "Thank you SIR!"

Scott laughed in spite of himself. "At ease, soldier." To the rest of the team, he said, "Let's get this place cleaned up and get out of here."

Suddenly a faint voice could be heard yelling, "GET ME OUT OF HERE YOU MASK MORONS!"

Scott rolled his eyes, ignoring Lester for the moment. "Nice catch Cross Country-I need you to tow Gator with Wildcat."

"Pleasure's all mine, Scott. Wish I coulda caught ya more than a lizard though."

"It's a start. Hi-Tech, Jess-listen to the radio traffic. Make sure we don't run into any other surprises before we go."

"You got it Scott." Both of them climbed up into Bulldog's cab.

"Chuckles, Falcon, bring Razorback and Bullet to help me fetch the Lizard from his concrete cage. I need to have a little chat with him."

Phoenix's radio crackled to life on Boulderhill's emergency frequency. "Annie, what the HELL's going on out there?!"

Annie sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "Excuse me while I go remind my father what behind the scenes means...again..."

"Get mine on the line too-we're going to need to know what to do with both Stinger and Lester now that we've caught them."

"Got it."


	2. Chapter 2

MASK SAGA 4: REDEMPTION

(Please review if you have a moment and let us know what you think. We have a lot of fun writing this saga and enjoy sharing this with you.)

Chapter 2

"Shit what are we gonna do Vanessa?" Bruno asked. It had been five hours ago since they were humiliated in battle. Manta was nearing its final destination the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming. "We lost Stinger and Lester. There's no way we'll get off easy."

"Just play it calm and be upfront, " She advised, although deep down inside she was anything but calm. Roxanne Trakker had made it clear that any flubs in the mission would cost them something dearly. Considering how mentally unstable the girl was now in days the worst could be expected.

"I don't want to end up like Mayhem or Gorey."

"Nash Gory screw himself over thinking he could break Mayhem out and regain his standing as head nerd. Who knows where the hell their keeping them or even if their alive."

"They got no use for me without Stinger. We shouldn't of left it behind."

"If you're gonna keep whining I'm gonna eject your ass out of here and tell her you're a casualty of war."

"Hey now…it's just all that talk of us being washed up. You know she's going to bring it up. Floyd and Dagger got assigned to mess hall duty. The only one making out in all this is Rax who constantly on missions."

"I'm not privy to what's going on any more, but believe me the thought has cross my mind. Let me handle her I'm sure I can put some sense into her."

The mountain side started the move to reveal an entrance at the bottom of the mountain. Vanessa shifted manta back into a car and drove into the hollow mountain side. The moment she parked the vehicle several contra world soldiers surrounded the vehicle with guns pointed directly at Vanessa and Bruno.

"REMOVE YOUR MASK AND STEP AWAY FROM THE VEHICLE!"

"Well were off to a good start," Vanessa smirked at Bruno. Both VENOM agents removed their masks and exited the vehicle with their hands on their heads. She glanced at each of the men looking to see who was head of this greeting reception, "You gonna lock us away or give us a chance to explain?"

"Get walking...boss want to see you," one of the men indicated by grabbing Vanessa by the arm.

"Oh goodie," Vanessa stated with sarcasm. She walked away but noticed the guns were still on Bruno, "What about him?"

"Just you."

Vanessa kept walking and didn't look back at Bruno, but she knew in her gut this wasn't good. She headed up a series of metal steps towards a catwalk that overlook the base entrance and entered an office that oversee the area. Behind a desk, was Roxanne Trakker burying her head into her laptop. She didn't even bother to look up when Vanessa entered and sat down in front of her.

"You want to tell me what happened?" Roxanne asked in a monotone voice still focusing on her computer.

"We were outnumbered and out manned. They recruited Gi Joe and have new vehicles and masks. We can't expect to complete with them using our current battle technology.

Roxanne looked up from her computer and directly into Vanessa Warfield's eyes, "You know what I think. It's not the technology that's outdated it's you."

"I've given my services to ContraWorld for 25 years," Vanessa replied with such scorn in her voice, "I'll be damned if you think your taking me of the front lines little girl."

"That's what I like about your Vanessa," She gives her a friendly smile, "You're not afraid of anyone and apparently…don't know when to keep your mouth SHUT! The reality of the situation you may have been out numbered vehicles wise, but you were not out gunned!" Roxanne tone continued to become harsher and more violent with every word, "I ensured you had the support you needed to take out MASK. Instead of taking out two vulnerable targets, you cost me Stringer, my cartel connections, and are forcing me to deal with that low life Lester. "

"So you knew about this…"Vanessa asked in a low threating voice, "And didn't say anything."

"This was test to see if you even met the same standards as Sly Rax. Your tactical decisions during this mission were very questionable. Not even one little hit on Raggedy Ann."

"How do you know that?"

Roxanne turned her laptop around to reveal satellite images of MASK trying to break Lester out of his concrete prison.

"I saw the whole battle from start to finish."

"Then you know your accusation is not even true. I fired two missiles at her." Vanessa slammed back and forced her two fingers right in front of Roxanne face.

"That were clearly intercepted," She sat back crossing her arms as if she had a one up on Vanessa, " Had you not ordered your back up to stay put. I'd be seeing images of them hulling her damn carcass out of there. Only one person even attempted to do anything that was Bruno."

Vanessa could feel the steam coming out of her nostrils, but she chose to stay silent. What nerves she has saying he did more than me!

"You're too soft for this job and clearly the family connection is getting in the way. Next thing you know you'll be telling me we should be racing MASK around the world for loot. We're a terrorist organization and you have forgotten that. I won't hear any more excuses your replacement already been selected. You will no longer drive Manta.

"That's my Vehicle!"

"Not anymore! I have other work for you to do." Roxanne opens a drawer and pulls out a stack of black files. "I hate doing all this admin crap so I'm passing it off to you."

"So that's it am now your freak'n secretary?"

"It sure beats peeling potatoes, "Roxanne walked around the desk and shoved the folders into her arms, "Maybe if you take this job seriously I'll consider moving you back up on the food chain. Now excuse me," Roxy waves Vanessa out of the room. "I have to cork a leak because you didn't pop your daughter..."

The moment Vanessa stepped out of Roxanne Trakker's office with a handful of files her ears perked up hearing laughter coming from below. She glanced over the catwalk to see Bruno joking around with the same Contra World soldiers who had earlier threaten to arrest them. She realized it was all a sham to begin with. Roxanne had deliberately staged an arrest just to rattle her nerves. Her hands grip the heavy files in her arm feeling a sudden urge to rip them all in half.

"Great gag guy..I really thought you had it out to get us," She overheard Bruno from below.

JOKE?! There's nothing to joke about in these times. Moments ago you were worried you'd get the sack, but instead I'm the one who's taken the heat for this. Vanessa calmly walked towards the elevator to keep up the appearance that nothing had happened. Of course she realized the moment word got out about some new guy driving Manta her reputation would be ruined.

"There is still time to fix this…but how?" She mumbled under her breath, as she took the elevator to the sleeping quarters below the ground.

Vanessa drop a dozen black file folders on her desk, in her living quarters and casually peered through them. "Personal files for potential recruits," She deeply sighed thinking this was the last thing she expected to be doing with her criminal career path, "Let see...too young…too extreme…Cobra hand me downs," She started tossing files in a nearby trash can one by one, but then halted as she heard knocking at her door. "WHAT!?"

"Umm…I was told I'm supposed to report to you?"

Vanessa rolled her eyes, Newbie and then jerked the door violently open. She expected some skinny little man who could barely fit in his uniform acting like a lost puppy, but instead she got a familiar face. "CL…"

The man put his hand up insisting she didn't speak any further, "Tony Vincent, Ma'am reporting for duty. I was reassigned to you today."

"If you don't mind me asking Tony what the hell are you doing on my base?" Vanessa crossed her arms and examined him closely.

"Well you had an opening for a mechanic and I'm the best man to deal with you problem, Vanessa." He gave her a sly smile back.

"What do you know of my problem?"

"I know you're on a short leash. We both want a resolution without any necessary complications that's best for all parties involve."

"Keep in mind I can't help you if your get caught."

"It's a risk I'm willing to take."

* * *

Almost home. Jess thought staring out Bulldog passenger side window. Her eyes constantly glance at the side mirror showing Wildcat towing Gator. How did I even survive that beating? I shouldn't be alive.

Hi-Tech kept glancing over at Jess who was lost in thought, "I'm sure Cross Country will have Gator up and running before you know it…but if not you can share Bulldog with me."

Jess turned her head to look at Hi-Tech and gave him a soft smile, "That is mighty kind of you to offer." She knew the youngest member of their team fresh out of GI Joe boot camp at the age of 20 was slightly smitten with her. The first day of MASK vehicle training the young man was willing to jump through any hoop she told him to. It went so far that he took her serious when she said the Comrade mask needed to be updated; he rewrote the logic and redesigned the mask to create his mask Patriot. Usually she would enjoy wrapping him around her little finger, but considering how sweet he has been with her the last thing she wanted was to toy with his heart.

"It was a pretty intense battle… didn't you see me ram Stringer out of the way…and then bury it in the snow…Bruno was might pissed after that."

"Can we change the subject?"

"Oh uh sure…there's Dusty Pizzeria they have the best pizza in town. Don't know if you ever been there, but do you want to you go there sometime."

She snickered lightly, "We can do that…but I think I'd prefer some place different."

Did I make this conversation anymore awkward? He ran his hand through is hair nervously, that's her Family's restaurant…don't know what the heck I was thinking?

Before Hi-Tech could come up with another suggestion Falcon broke over the radio, "I'll be glad to get rid of this jackal he doesn't ever shut up." Because of Razor being a 2 door closed vehicle, Falcon was elected to transport their prisoner Lester.

"Are we there yet? I need to use the bathroom…what's with the blind fold? It's too tight and hurting my eyes." Lester whined.

Falcon could no longer take it. He slammed this foot on the gas and passed each MASK vehicle on the road. He activated the Boulderhill secret entrance and violently slammed on the breaks as he swiftly maneuvered into Razor parking spot.

"I think I'm gonna throw up!" Lester cried out putting a hand over his mouth.

"Hell no!" Falcon shouted as he got out of Razor and violently pulled Lester out of the vehicle and threw him over to a trash can so he could vomit.

The remaining MASK agents slowly pulled their vehicles into Boulderhill headquarters force to watch the hilarious spectacle of Falcon babysitting a handcuff and blindfolded Lester over a garbage can.

"Really Falcon?!" Scott Trakker stated with his arms across over his chest and not amused.

"What?"

"Lester you alight?"

"Oh please, he's fine." Falcon replied on Lester behalf.

"I wasn't asking you." Scott stated irritated.

Lester lifted his head up, "I think he broke my arm."

"Chuckles….take him way and get him check out."

"Sure thing," Chuckles lightly grabbed Lester and led him down a series of hallways with the blindfolded and cuffs still on.

Once Lester was out of sight, Scott gave Falcon the same disapproving looks his father had given him years ago for getting into all kinds of mischief, "You think man handling the prisoner and acting like a hot shot is gonna help us get any information out of him?"

"Sorry Scott," Falcon apologized without a hint of remorse, "Left my kid gloves back at COBRA's Terrordrome years ago. Maybe I could borrow yours...?"

Scott couldn't hide the boiling red anger from his face, "You must really think your freak'n comedian. I don't know what the hell they do at GI Joe but here we follow protocols."

"Sssssure you do." Falcon lightly let slipped.

"There they go at it again," Hi-Tech stated as he exited Bulldog. "Shouldn't somebody break them up, Jess?" He turned around expecting to see her standing next to him, but instead she had slip away out of the garage. "Aww shucks," He sighed, "I'm never gonna get this timing right."

Seriously again! Annie mentally screamed as she removed her mask irritated. When are those two ever gonna grow up? She had half the mind to walk over there to split the two men up, but her eyes shifted around the garage looking for Jess and notice Hi-tech awkwardly talking to himself. She slipped out…figures.

As Annie headed towards the locker room she was stopped by her father Brad Turner who was sporting a black T-shirt, blue jeans, and a black cane, "You alright? Situation sounded pretty ruff out there."

"I'm fine…I'm more worried about Jess right now." She replied with haste. He nodded having seen the girl sneaking out of the garage. "Do me a favor," She asked still hearing a yelling match in the background, "Handle those two idiots."

"Of course," Brad replied with seriousness. He hobbled over to Scott and Falcon who were within inches of each other face and ready to get physical. "You two want to quit posturing. You're too busy fighting for control of the damn schoolyard to see the bigger picture here." Both younger agents stood there speechless as Brad continued to berate them with his frozen harsh stare. "Two of your agents were caught in cross fire and neither one of you seem to notice the hell they've been through."

"They were doing just fine after the fight," Falcon challenge.

Across the garage Cross Country was getting sick of the bickering between the two agents. He may be redneck but knew better when to steer clear from trouble. He was shaking his head as he was detaching Gator from Wildcat's tow as heard Falcon's comment. That's putting your foot in your mouth Falcon.

"You've got a lot to learn about reading body language on this team," Brad reminded, "They don't teach that in the Army..."

"Your right Brad," Scott stepped in first, "I sense something was off a bit with Jess and Annie. I guess I forget those girls seem to bottle up their emotions sometimes."

"Sometimes?" Brad smirked slightly. "I wouldn't go barging in on them …I think some alone time is needed right now."

"Understood."

"Uh..yeah," Falcon said trying to cool off his cocky attitude, "Sorry about that. Guess got a bit too riled up with Lester the past few hours wasn't thinking straight."

"It's alright," Scott replied letting water be under the bridge, "I've had my moments in the past with Lester and he is a handfull."

"You seem to be in a hurry to get out of here." Annie noticed as Jess was already in her street clothes as she entered the locker room. She then casually proceeded to open up her own locker, "You know Scott gonna want you around for the briefing.."

"Tell him I'm sick."

"Unless you tell me what's going on in that head of yours don't expect me to lie for you."

Jess softly sighed and held her hands together with her eyes looking downward, as she sat down on the lock room bench. "I don't know if I can do this anymore."

"That's just your emotions talking you know that's not how you really feel," Annie replied focusing her sole attention on Jess."

"You and me both know SHE was out to get us."

"So what's new? SHE has been out to get me since that Venice incident years ago. By caving in like this you're letting her win."

"She's already won! Look what she did to my father," Tears started to run down Jess face, "He's gonna have medical problems for the rest of his life because of what she did to him. I don't want end up like that too. And just because you get some sick pleasure out of this vendetta with HER I don't want any part of it."

"What the hell makes you think I get pleasure out of this?" Annie quickly went from a concern friend to agitated. "I've had to walk a fine line between hating Roxy and loving Scott and trying to reconcile the two...And for the record, my father's walking around on a bum leg, so don't you dare talk to me about what you've lost..."

"REALLY!? In case you didn't notice my dad mostly bed ridden these days. I don't care how many ways Julio spins that he's getting better each day. I have a freak'n medical degree and have a good idea how many years she nicked off his life." Jess wipes her eyes as anger continue to overtake her, "Every bullet Bruno shot at me made me realize I was nicking time off my own clock"

"Sorry Jess," Annie apologizes, "…I shouldn't be comparing Brad and Dusty like that. We've both lost something here-the question is-what are we willing to do about it? If you want to leave…I won't stop you. However, I don't want you making a snap decision. I want you to think about this very carefully, just like I did when I finally signed on. And I'm still not going to lie for you-if you can't be at that briefing, Scott deserves to know why and to hear it from you, not me. I'll stand by whatever you decide, as long as you've thought it through"

Jess takes a deep breath and regains her composure, "I promise I'll give it some thought. I know I'm running on pure emotions right now and it's not even the rational side of me talking. You, me, our family, and friends have been one big MASK family and I'd rather keep it between us right now. I don't want to let Dad, Gloria, Hondo…or any of them down."

"That makes two of us, but I know they would understand and only want the best for you."

"I know…Annie," Jess puts her arm around Annie in a hugging embrace.

The moment they let go and made up Annie jabbed, "You could start your soul searching by taking that poor youngster on a date...he looks pathetic... "

"Did you really have to bring that up?" She lightly cracks a smile. "I might let him squirm a few more days for suggesting Dusty Pizzeria for our first date."

"Ouch! No wonder he looks like a lost puppy...Come on," Annie grabs Jess hands pulling her gently, "We have few hours to chill before the briefing let's hit the pool with a couple drinks at the mansion. I'm sure Matt won't mind."

* * *

Annie and Jess noticed Chuckles approaching the moment they stepped out of the secret entrance leading to the Trakker Mansion.

"Looks like trouble in paradise," Jess quipped, more or less back to her old self. "I'll just go...see who's in the garage..."

Chuckles didn't waste any time explaining the situation once he found Annie. "Good, you're back. Scott's trying to interrogate Lester by himself and from the sounds of it, it's getting pretty intense. Brad was just about to page you to break them up."

Annie sucked in a deep breath, closed her eyes, and exhaled slowly. "Tell Dad I'm on it." She headed toward the interrogation room, muttering to herself, "Just once I'd like to fix something and have it stay fixed. Or not have another problem crop right back up. Getting sick of feeling like a babysitter."

"WHERE IS SHE?!"

Annie opened the door to the interrogation room to see Scott leaning over a wooden desk into Lester's face. Chuckles had cuffed him to a metal chair that he was close to tipping over in order to avoid Scott's wrath.

"Where are THEY?" Annie calmly corrected, glancing toward Lester as she shut the door.

"Ooh, finally. A threesome!" Lester blurted ignorantly.

Scott glared at Lester before turning his anger on Annie, blue eyes cold as he snapped, "Better yet, where were YOU? Still having a pool party and drinks with the girls?"

"Because of HIM," Annie shot back, hooking her thumb in Lester's direction. "He's enough to drive anyone to drink."

"HEY!" Lester squawked indignantly. "I got rights you know."

"Try exercising the right to remain silent." Annie countered while turning back to Scott, "And don't tell me you haven't thought about taking a nip or two yourself..." Annie ignored Scott's cold glare and walked over, raised up on tip toes to sniff his breath. "Yep, whiskey...how many shots?"

"How many margaritas?"

"I didn't know it was a competition."

"Can I play?" Lester asked, acting like a little kid. "Then again, Warfield Women don't play very nice. Not very dutiful whores..."

Lester had the good sense to look nervous as Scott and Annie both leaned over the desk, uniting and turning mutual glares on their new common enemy.

"Exactly what do you know about Warfield Women except that one of them can kick your ass with both hands tied behind her back?!" Scott sneered.

"It'd be in your best interest to be a little nicer, Lester," Annie added coldly. "Right now we're the only thing standing between you, G.I. Joe, and a military style interrogation. They've got all kinds of painful and perfectly legal techniques they're just dying to try out. Shall I get my list and read them off to you?"

"I'm going to ask you again..." Scott reiterated, slamming both hands onto the desk, "where's VENOM?"

Lester jumped, gulped, and licked his lips. "I can't tell you. She'll kill me."

"I'd be a little more worried about me right now." Scott cracked his knuckles for emphasis.

"We can protect you," Annie stepped in, "You're not so dumb that you don't know we have connections. Give us VENOM and Contraworld and we might even be able to get you some creature comforts while you spend life in prison."

"HA!" Lester snorted. "This from someone who's just as much of a target as me."

Lester backpedaled, doing his best to scoot the chair back and away from Annie as she stepped around to his side of the desk. All she did was lean against the desk, look down on him with a sultry smile and ask sweetly, "Then explain how I'm still alive."

" 'cause Mommy Vanessa keeps saving your ass..."

The only thing that kept Annie from throttling Lester right there was the sound of Chuckles opening the door. She whirled about angrily and snarled, "Don't they teach you to knock on closed doors in the Army?! What the hell do you want?!"

Unfazed by the tirade, Chuckles caught Scott's attention. "Orders just came in from command.. there's a transport on standby...they want the Lizard. Pronto. Along with a medic to certify he's been accorded his rights under the Geneva Convention.."

"Yeah! I know my rights! Where's my fancy coffee anyway?"

"I'll get Freespirit suited up for the trip." Annie sounded just like Vanessa as she stalked out of the room, adding, "And that's Gevalia, moron!"

"Geneva, Gevalia...tomato, tomata...whatever!"

"Chuckles, cage the Lizard again," Scott ordered.

"With pleasure." Scott was almost out the door when Chuckles stopped him again. "Falcon's a secondary medic-you sure you don't want to take him along and give the gals a break?"

Scott eyed Chuckles somewhat warily as he left. "Why would I do that when I have a primary medic who could use a change of scenery?"

Annie trailed fire behind her as she traversed the length of the garage. "Suit up Jess-you and Scott pulled the short straws on babysitting duty. The rest of you fly boys look alive-I want four military officers at rapt attention in a debriefing as soon as that transport leaves!"

Brad blinked back a surprised double take as he turned his chair away from the command console. For a brief moment, he saw Vanessa Warfield stalking through Boulderhill. The imagery couldn't have been more perfect, even down to the open mouthed stares she'd draw from Contraworld's lower ranked males anytime she'd start snapping orders. He would have pointed this out to his daughter had Scott not been trailing in her wake.

"You heard her Jess," Scott confirmed in a slightly more diplomatic tone, pulling Jess out of her discussion with Hi-Tech, "We're leaving as soon as you're ready."

"Annie," Scott caught her arm and pulled her into Buddy's former office, shutting the door behind them, "You should know not to let Lester get to you like that."

She pulled out of his grasp and paced her anger out around the room. "It isn't just Lester..."

Scott perched on the edge of the desk. "I know...it's the whole damn scenario. Annie, I swear to you that something is not right here. As soon as we nab Lester Sludge, we're just as quickly asked to ship him out?!" He clutched the edge of the desk angrily. "That's on top of feeling like I'm getting second guessed by Falcon at every opportunity... then Chuckles asks me to take him on this prisoner transport...and he's only a secondary field medic!"

"You are taking JESS," Annie emphasized in a tone that booked no argument. "Her specialty is medicine and she needs the distraction."

"That's what I told him. But what the hell?! Does G.I. Joe think they're dealing with a bunch of rank amateurs or what?"

"It's only been a month...too soon to start jumping to conclusions, Scott. And I know this isn't easy to stomach, but we NEED these guys right now." He caught the stress in her voice. "This last battle just proved exactly how much."

He crossed the room and pulled Annie into a quick hug. "I've been hard on you when you've been nothing but supportive, and I'm sorry. This hasn't been easy on either of us. I'm going to use this prisoner transport as an opportunity to talk to Dad and see if he has any insights on the matter. He's in close contact with G.I. Joe Command these days."

"Now that's my Scott using his head," Annie hugged him back.

They pulled away from each other as Jess rapped once on the door, turning away dressed in full uniform.

Scott stole a quick kiss before he left, "Be sure to remind those guys what team they're on and who is in charge here. And don't be afraid to sic your Dad on them if needed...he did a pretty good number on Falcon and I earlier."

Annie smirked in a very Brad-like fashion. "Who do you think sent him?"


	3. Chapter 3

MASK SAGA 4: REDEMPTION

Chapter 3

Brad spoke up just as Annie entered the conference room carrying pen and paper.

"They aren't exactly at rapt attention, but I got them as close as I could."

Cross Country was barely concealing a southern grin and Falcon was very obviously smirking. Chuckles, as usual, put on a poker face while Hi-Tech glanced somewhat morosely at Jess' empty chair.

"About that..." Annie sat down in Scott's normal position at the head of the table. "I apologize for letting that good for nothing..." She stopped before she entered another tirade and started again, "VENOM, especially Lester Sludge, brings out the worst in me. "

"Hadn't noticed." Cross Country's grin spread to his entire face.

"Not a clue," Falcon chimed in with a wink.

Chuckles and Hi-Tech exercised the better part of valor and stayed silent while Brad simply leaned back in the chair that Annie normally occupied, watching his daughter work her magic on the new arrivals.

She smiled at all of them. "All right then. I've been asked to review some housekeeping issues before we get to the meat and potatoes. First off is current command structures for our two combined teams." Annie's eyes drifted toward Cross Country and held his gaze. "Currently MASK is still an independent anti-terrorist organization...so if we could remember that while we're hollering on the battlefield?"

A flush rose in Cross Country's cheeks as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Got a little carried away there at first. Won't happen again ma'am."

"Thank you. You also bagged us Lester Sludge and Iguana. Nice work."

"Nice to be appreciated."

"Great, she's encouraging him," Falcon muttered to Chuckles beside him.

Chuckles replied by kicking him under the table. "Shut up."

Annie's eyes turned briefly to that corner of the table as she continued. "MASK Command reports directly to the joint task force made up of PNA President Matt Trakker and G.I. Joe's top command staff. That would be, in order by code name, and correct me if I'm wrong here Falcon," she looked up at the lieutenant for confirmation, "General Hawk, First Sargent Duke, Warrant Officer Flint, and Sargent-Major Beach Head."

"That's right. And I would normally be fifth on that list," Falcon couldn't help adding.

"Thank you for that wonderful segway, Falcon," Annie's expression and tone became more serious. "I was just about to say that you four currently report directly to MASK Command, which consists of team leader Scott Trakker, myself as second in command, and Brad Turner as our reserve. You all need to respect Brad's authority as much as mine and Scott's." Her eyes stayed pointedly focused on Falcon while asking, "Any questions so far?"

When no one answered, Annie started her next point. "You four need to come to one of us anytime you have a concern. For example..." her eyes drifted over to Hi-Tech and focused there, "...when deciding to make design and protocol changes to your masks."

Hi-Tech was still daydreaming in the direction of Jess' chair until Brad rapped his cane in front of the young Joe like a nun's yardstick. "Eyes front, youngster!"

He jumped slightly and looked over at Annie, who was waiting expectantly for a reply. "Jess suggested I update the Comrade MASK, so I did. That Russian Bear design was completely wrong to begin with...and there was no way I was shouting 'Comrade On!' in the middle of a battle. That's so...un-American."

"I can appreciate that," Annie agreed. "I'd appreciate it more if you'd ask permission next time..."

"Yes ma'am," Hi Tech sighed.

"The redesign was well done by the way. Very American. And it bagged us Stinger. Good job." Annie checked a couple more things off her paper list, "And I have not forgotten the last two battle credits-Chuckles, my personal thanks for taking some of the heat out there. That battle would have gone quite differently had you not stepped in."

"All in a day's work," said the hawaiian shirted special ops agent.

"And finally, Falcon, for putting that silver tongue to good use and talking us out of Mexico. And not a moment too soon for me."

"I can use my tongue for other things too you know." Falcon waggled his eyebrows.

Annie's cutting reply to Falcon died on her lips at the sound of a special ringtone playing on her cell phone. She looked down at the text message displayed there, too frozen in shock to be properly embarrassed that she'd left it on.

"Important. Please call ASAP. Ace."

Several skunk eyed looks came her way at the unprofessional interruption of the briefing, but none darker than Brad's. "What the hell's the matter with you?" His voice was an angry but subdued hiss from Annie's right. "Turn that damn thing off!"

"It's from Ace." Her voice was a quiet whisper for his ears as she ignored him and stood up to leave with the phone in her hand. Aloud, she said, "I'm sorry, but this is very important. I need to make a call."

The minute she left, Brad stood up and turned the same vicious look on Falcon. "Do not mistake me for a feeble old man. I will wipe the floor with you if you don't start showing some respect, especially to Annie." His gaze encompassed the whole room before he left. "The whole lot of you better start taking this assignment seriously. Now try to be good boys while I figure out what the hell's going on."

Brad found Annie outside the conference room, leaning her head on her arm against the far wall. "No...it's okay. Don't apologize. Your instincts were right on. This is important...and related somehow. I can deal with the fall out here." Her eyes momentarily met Brad's. "I'll be up as soon as I can."

Annie snapped her phone closed just as Brad asked, "Ace as in Cody Hawkes?"

She nodded. "Just as important as he said. I'm a...'customer' of the Lake Tahoe Bike Shop and the owner was found dead last night. To make matters worse, there's a hot to trot newcomer filling in for Sheriff MacBride's medical leave...and he's ready to blow my cover story if I don't get up there and talk to him. So you're going to have to handle things here till I get back."

"You're not going by yourself," Brad insisted. "And before you waste time arguing with me, I'll remind you what happened the last time bad news came out of Lake Tahoe..."

Annie sighed. "Fine. I'll take Falcon."

"You sure about that?"

"No. And I'm not wasting time explaining it to you."

Annie popped her head back into the conference room. "A situation related to this mission has just developed in Lake Tahoe and I need to get there. Falcon, you're with me. Find some civvies fast and meet me in the vehicle bay. Something that doesn't scream MASK or military escort...like Sonny Crockett or Thomas Magnum. Don't waste my time with impertinent questions...15 minutes or I'm leaving without you."

"Yes Ma'am!"

"Cross Country-get to work on those vehicles, specifically Gator. Requisition whatever parts you need...we'll sign off on them later."

"On it, darlin'."

"Hi Tech-get me everything you can find on the Lake Tahoe Bike Shop and owner Butch Cassidy. Yes, that's his name, so snicker on your own time, not mine."

"Yes'um"

"Chuckles-keep making yourself useful and help out where these guys need you. Brad is in charge until I or Scott get back."

"Right."

* * *

" 'Shut up, Falcon. Drive the car, Falcon. Stay here and cool your heels, Falcon,'" Vincent Falcone rested his arms on Razorback's roof as he waited for Annie to finish up with the Lake Tahoe Sheriff's Department at the crime scene. He was not used to feeling like window dressing. "I swear I'm being punished. Karma's a bitch."

"Karma's also a nosy redhead." Falcon looked over to see a young biker had approached him and was leaning against Razorback's hood holding a cardboard box. The newcomer inclined his head toward the bike shop. "That one get you under her thumb too?"

That rankled Falcon's already bruised ego.

"I'm helping Ranger Turner with an investigation. Who the hell are you?"

"Just tell the Lady this Tramp don't plan on having her over for spaghetti dinner...ever." Tramp laid the box on the hood and shoved it in Falcon's direction. "Give her this too. It's her last special part order for that fancy bike of hers. Tell her shop's closin' and movin' to Mexico seein' as how she enjoys it there so much."

Falcon could see where the conversation was heading and pushed the box back toward Tramp. "Why not tell her yourself?"

" 'Cause that girl's been nothin' but trouble since she got here and I don't wanna end up like Butch. Which is why you can trust nothin's gonna jump out of that box and bite her if that's what you were thinkin'. I like my skin intact thanks." Tramp cast a glance over his shoulder and made a quick exit. "See ya round, Joe."

Falcon turned to see Annie approaching Razorback, looking even more agitated than when they had originally pulled up. He quickly tossed the box into the back seat and asked casually, "Find out anything?"

"Oh, it's foul play. No doubt about it. I told the deputy the truth...that Butch was one of my informants, which naturally planted the idea in his head that Butch had lots of enemies that might want to see him dead." She sighed raggedly, leaning on the opposite side of Razorback's roof. "Of course, telling him what I really think happened would completely blow my cover."

"What do you really think happened?"

"Not here. Let's go."

Falcon started Razorback as Annie climbed in the passengers seat, then pulled back out onto the highway leading south to Carson City. He waited until they were a ways down the road before reaching into the back seat and tossing Annie's delivery into her lap.

"Here. Maybe that will help confirm what you're thinking."

She looked at the label on the box and growled at Falcon in a suddenly Vanessa like manner. "Where the hell did you get this?"

He told Annie about his conversation with Tramp, reciting it word for word to make sure he didn't lose any details or nuances in the translation. Falcon could see her agitation increasing exponentially, so much so that when he finished his explanation, she started ripping the box open with her bare hands.

"Whoa Ranger!" Falcon grabbed a pair of gloves from behind the driver's seat and smacked Annie playfully on the cheek with them before handing them over, "Forgetting something there, Kemosabe? You don't want to potentially pollute whatever's in there. And I'm guessing it's not bike parts."

"Rookie Mistake. I should know better." Annie's cheeks momentarily flushed the color of her hair as she slipped the gloves on. "Thanks Falcon."

"Vince." She looked at him funny. "I'm in my civvies chauffering you around Western Nevada with a box of God knows what. Might as well be relaxed about it."

Falcon winked at Annie while she just shook her head. "Keep your eyes on the road...Vince."

Falcon obeyed, tuning his eyes to the road and his ears to the sound of cardboard tearing. After a few moments, he heard Annie inhale sharply and mutter a few expletives.

"Pull over."

He was about to ask why until he looked at her and saw everything he needed to know. Her hands trembled as they held the open box. Falcon slid Razorback onto the next open pull off and shut off the engine. He could see unshed tears of...anger? fear?... in her eyes. "You okay Annie?"

"This is just someone's idea of a sick and twisted joke...to see how far they can push me toward the edge before I fall off."

She wanted to chuck her special delivery clear across the highway but settled for a carefully aimed throw onto Falcon's lap. The gloves followed. She wiped her eyes as he looked down to see what had her so upset.

"Whoa..." Falcon pulled on the gloves and carefully lifted a raggedy looking Raggedy Ann doll from the box. Raggedy Ann was carrying a message, pinned to her chest by a vicious looking Army issue knife, about where her heart would be if she was human. You're next, read the cut up newspaper message. The pictures on the bottom of the box were just as alarming. "This is not good."

"Pretend I'm an idiot and explain this to me, Vince. I want to see this from your point of view. Take the information available to you and tell me what's going on here."

"Okay." He gently redeposited Raggedy Ann and flipped through the pictures before spreading them on the seat and pointing to the figure captured there. "That is Sly Rax...and that..." he pointed to the crimson red uniform with the stylized snake logo, "...is a COBRA uniform. Crimson Guard Elite-which puts him pretty high up in COBRA's food chain."

"MASK and G.I. Joe. Contraworld and Cobra. I can buy that so far. Go on."

"This information is likely what got Butch killed and that," he motioned to the knife in Raggedy Ann's chest, "is probably what killed him. Are we taking that back to the cops?"

"Not until we analyze it first." She cut off Falcon's protest. "The damage is done. I'm already withholding evidence. This could kill my career."

"I'd say that's the secondary objective. Raggedy Ann is sending a pretty clear message."

"Oh always. Always little messages. Nothing Direct. Nothing Traceable. Just enough to get a reaction...and make me wonder when the message will be at my front door." Annie transfixed him with a pointed stare. "Who's the sender then?"

"Apparently I'm still supposed to pretend you're an idiot," Falcon replied. "The answer's obvious...Roxanne Trakker. And Scott's never going to believe you if you try to tell him, which is why you should let G.I. Joe help."

"I thought G.I. Joe was already helping...?"

"Okay, we're done pretending now. You know damn well that's not what I meant."

"I'm not doing an end run around Scott. And I'd think twice if you want to try an end run around both of us," Annie's eyes became hard, "I will snap you so far back that you'll think you're in Basic Training again."

Falcon sighed. "You're too damn loyal. You'd make a hell of a Joe though."

Annie's jaw dropped. "Are you trying to recruit me?"

"If that's what you want..."

"Right now what I want is to go home."

* * *

Vanessa Warfield's heels echo through the garage as she hurried to get her destination.

"Hey Vanessa," Bruno shouted, "You get a transfer too?"

"I'm late for a meeting," She replied back not even looking his direction. I still can't believe they're putting him on an assignment. Apparently you need to be blood thirsty to be recognized around here. She burst open the door to the office on the upper catwalk overlooking the garage and found all eyes staring directly upon her.

"Nice of you to finally join us," Roxanne stated wearing her formal contra world uniform.

She would have loved chewing Roxanne out for sending her on a wild goose chase across the base and purposely making her late, but considering she wasn't alone holding her tongue was the better option, "Sorry won't happy again."

Part of her couldn't believe that Jon Mayhem had finally shown his face on base after a four week absent, yet here he is by her side again. She did well to cover her displeasure and instead focused her attention on the flat screen TV hanging on the wall, where two twin men wearing business suits were being broadcast via a video conference call. They were identical in every way except for one having a red scar over his check. She knew they were Cobra's Crimson guards Tomax and Xamot. Why the hell are we working with those snakes?

"What news do you have for us gentlemen?" Jon was the first to ask.

"Extensive Enterprise acquisition of…" Tomax started to state.

"Trakker Enterprises is still in the works," Xamot finished.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Roxanne flared up. "WE are giving you Contra World resources to ensure this merger goes through!"

"What daddy cut…" Tomax stated.

"off your allowance?" Xamot finished, as both twins laughed.

"For all the efforts we're putting in," Jon reinforced, "We're not getting anything back of equal value."

"You must realize that things move a bit slow in the business world," Tomax clarified.

"The board is close to a vote to remove both Trakker Senior and Junior from the company." Xamot added.

"You listen here," Roxanne stated with an ultimatum, "I want them RUINED! You have one month to wrap this up. I better see both the money and the R&D info we requested. IF I don't, I can assure you all deals are off and we will make you pay for your services."

Jon smiled seeing how Roxanne had handled the situation nicely, "Paying for our services don't necessarily mean in cash."

The crimson twins look to each other as if reading each other's thoughts before replying. "We'll see if we can…." Tomax spoke and Xamot followed, "break a few to escalate the vote."

"After all we don't want to upset the current relationship." Tomax apologize

"Especially with plans in the work to wipe out our Joe problem." Xamot concluded.

"Good," Jon remarked satisfied, "I'll leave with my team tonight."

When the video conference ended Roxanne threw him a questionable look, "You could have just had me hack my dad broke to avoid all these unnecessary mission requests were doing for them."

"Although your hacking skills are legendary, it wouldn't get us all the money and access to the upgrades we need for our vehicles and masks."

"I don't like working with Cobra I don't trust them. You know their just gonna stab us in the back the first chance they get."

"I second that," Vanessa finally realizing what's been going on behind doors. "The last time Miles Mayhem tried a truce with Cobra Commander we realize they were far too interested in our tech then furthering our cause. So hence the snake rivalry."

"I got my eyes on them with my sly fox hiding in their ranks." Jon remark hinting in Rax's location. "I am planning on their greedy nature to completely blindsided them, when I take out both the Joes and the Cobras at the same time. Then there will be two less nuisances in the world to stop me."

"What about MASK?" Vanessa reminded crossing her arms, "They teamed up with the Joes and were showing off their new toys."

"That's why we need Trakker's R&D department," Roxanne replied. "We can't get Mayhem to talk, so any information we need Trakker's company can provide."

Vanessa attempted to cover her shock, but she couldn't believe Miles Mayhem was actually still alive. "What the catch you two?" She looked to both of them suspicious.

"It's quiet simple…you are only one of the few people we can put our trust in," Jon replied.

"We review all the scenario with Rax, " Roxanne explained , "and we believe there may be more traders in our mists. I corked a leak, but I think it's safe to say we probably have a Cobra, a Joe, or maybe a Miles Mayhem sympathizer among us. What better person then you to pick them out?"

Vanessa thought about the Tony Vincent showing up at her room the other day. This is wonderful he's gonna get us both fried.

"You have a better eye for these things," Roxanne added, "I'm too busy organizing an operation to intercept the PNA, when they head to Mexico to pick up Stinger, to interview everyone on base. "

"What about Lester?"

"You really have the nerves to bring up that name," Roxanne huffed, "I say we just kill him….but it's not my choice," She then look s to Jon, "He's your cousin."

"I'll handle the issue", Jon regretfully sighted. "Can't have any loose ends. Vanessa, I also need you to ensure these supplies are ready for tonight," he stated handing her a list.

Vanessa reviewed the list and started making notes of a few items she may need to acquire, "This is doable." When she looked up she noticed nobody was paying any attention to her anymore.

"I missed you," Roxanne stated as she got up from her chair and sat down in Jon lap wrapping her arms around his neck.

Jon put his arms around her waist and lightly nipped at her neck, "I've missed you in more ways than you can imagine. Got some time to spare."

Vanessa rolled her eyes in disgust and hastily headed for the door, as it was clear the two were lusting after each other. They didn't seem to care Vanessa was still in the room when they started locking lips. She shut the door behind her only to be halted by Bruno waiting outside the door for her.

"You avoiding me?"

"No..she got me on constant beck and call…been too busy to talk." The sound of stuff being knocked over and loud moaning could be heard in the room behind her. Which prompt Vanessa to move further down the catwalk towards the garage.

"What type of meeting were you in?" Bruno asked curiously

"Don't even ask….they don't even have the decency to get a freak'n room."

"You're coming with us right?"

"No I'm stuck here watching her royal highness."

"So they were right."

"Right about what?"

"You being retired and turn lap dog."

Vanessa grabbed Bruno by the shirt, "Let's get something straight, I'm not retiring and I'm nobody lap dog!"

"Then why is there somebody else flying your car around?" With that remark, Vanessa stormed passed Bruno and headed straight towards where Manta was parked. She could tell a man wearing a mechanic suit was sitting in the driver seat looking down at the control panel.

Vanessa knocked on Manta window to get the mechanic attention, "Do you mind not showing off in my vehicle, Tony?"

"I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't take it for a test drive," Tony smiled.

"I know where you come from they don't give a crap if you go joyriding, but you sure the hell better let me know if you take any of these vehicles off the premises." She threatened.

"Fine…I'll clear it with you first next time."

Vanessa throws a piece of paper in his lap, "Here's her schedule this week, shouldn't have any interference for a while."

"Good," He places the paper into his right pocket.

"Oh and by the way," Her voice goes low and dark, "Stop sending messages to certain third party recipient cause the body count just keep piling up. It'll be on your head if it's the wrong people."

Tony lowed his head taking in Vanessa words, "Understood."


	4. Chapter 4

MASK SAGA 4: REDEMPTION

Chapter 4

Scott Trakker silently thanked whoever had built all the secret entrances into Boulderhill. He had used one of them to slip into the garage and the locker room unnoticed by the rest of his team, in no mood to be hand held, patronized, second guessed, or otherwise trifled with. He was ready to kill the first person who crossed his path in the wrong direction and was convinced that if he ever saw Lester Sludge again, he'd kill him too.

Yesterday's prisoner transport had been a kind of hell he never again wanted to experience. Hell didn't even wait for him and Jess to touch down with Lester in tow, instead beginning by surprising the two of them with G.I. Joe command staff instead of the PNA representatives they'd been told to expect. The looks on the faces of First Sargent Hauser, code name Duke, and Warrant Officer Faireborn, code name Flint, clearly stated that Scott and Jess were the "wrong people" for this assignment, even going so far as to demand to know where Lieutenant Falcon was. To top it off, nothing Scott said seemed to stop the stares and the insinuation that they didn't know what they were doing. It wasn't until his father Matt stepped in to explain things that Duke and Flint were reasonably assured of something approaching competence from MASK and sped away with their pet Lizard.

He remembered how much that rankled, having to have Daddy come in to save the day. He'd spent the rest of the transfer with his jaw firmly locked into place, biting his tongue on all the epithets he wanted to spit out at this whole damn situation. No matter what his father and Annie said, his instincts told him something was not right with this "partnership".

Annie... Scott stood up and paced the locker room end to end, trying not to focus on how Annie's inherent nature was becoming a problem for him too. Her experience, her contacts, her charm, her advice... As always, she was being nothing but supportive and teaching him everything she had learned, but he still at times felt like she was the one in command and not him. He knew he was being completely unfair...it wasn't her fault he had relied too much on his father's old guard team members. It wasn't her fault Jon Mayhem trashed MASK's reputation. And it wasn't her fault that the partnership with G.I. Joe was necessary to keep the team intact. He made one last lap around the locker room, deciding that the next course of action after checking in on the team was a heart to heart with his second in command, preferably over the really nice dinner he knew he owed her.

Scott checked his temper at the locker room door and walked into the garage, toward the white uniformed figure kneeling beside Gator. Their new mechanic seemed more at home in the G.I. Joe attire that represented his Confederate roots, so Scott had stopped trying to get him into a "proper" uniform. Scott heard the sound of muttered counting as he approached.

"50...51..." Bullets pinged into a metal dish sitting beside Cross Country as he dug them out of Gator. "52...53..."

"How are the repairs coming?" Scott asked.

"Fourty...no..fifty...fifty...? Dangit, Scott...ya made me lose count!" He put down the tool he was using and looked up at the MASK leader, pointing to the bowl of bullets. "Just a bit ridiculous, dontcha think? And I ain't even close to done yet."

Scott sighed. "I was afraid I'd hear something like this."

"Might as well show ya the worst of it then," Cross Country motioned Scott over to a neatly grouped set of bullet holes nearly on top of Gator's gas tank. "Anymore hits to that gas tank and Gator woulda been lit up like a Fourth of July barbeque. Phoenix too. It is a damn good thing we stepped in when we did." He continued on past Scott's pained look, determined not to pull any punches. "With all due respect, you have GOT to get them gals some protection and firepower on that battlefield, especially if the last fight's a preview of how things is gonna be."

Scott ran his hand through his hair in an unconscious childhood pose of thoughtfulness. Despite his misgivings about G.I. Joe in general, he couldn't help liking their down home southern boy replacement mechanic. Nobody could ever replace Buddy or fill his shoes, but Cross Country had planted his feet and started walking on a new path. And like Buddy, he wasn't afraid to say what was on his mind.

"I take it you have some ideas how to do that."

Cross Country grinned. "Glad ya asked. Wouldn't take much ta install a hard shell covering here and turn your Gator into an Armadillo when needed. And I'll betcha I can sweet talk our weapons boys into upgrading your Electric Ouch to a Lightning Storm."

"Hmm..." Scott nodded appreciatively. "Not a bad idea. Work me up some design specs for Gator and I'll consider it. Anything you want to do to Phoenix is going to have to go through Annie and Brad. They designed that bike from the ground up and paid for 100% of the parts."

"Yeah, Brad reminded me of that. Ain't snagged Annie yet... been too busy since she came back from Lake Tahoe."

"Lake...Tahoe...?" Scott felt a vein popping on his forehead. "What...the...hell..."

He stormed off toward the command center, leaving a very bemused Cross Country behind. "Somethin' I said...?"

"Annie, I'm telling you, the knife is clean," Hi Tech insisted. "You've made me scan it three times and there's still nothing here."

Falcon slipped a comforting arm around Annie's shoulders as they analyzed the evidence they'd received. "Maybe you should reboot the computer."

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Annie snorted and laughed out loud, giving Falcon a playful shove, breaking the embrace. "We are not rebooting the MASK computer. I don't even know how."

"Well then, you should consider letting us send this knife off to the Pit for analysis," Falcon suggested seriously. "We've got some more advanced toys that might pick up something."

Hi Tech agreed. "Mainframe taught me a lot of what I know...if anyone could find a needle in a haystack, It'd be him."

"Care to tell me what's going on here?" They turned in tandem to see a very angry Scott looking back at them. The thought of a nice dinner had completely slipped away from him.

"We're analyzing some new evidence we received," Annie replied.

"From Lake Tahoe?" Scott's voice was frigid.

"Yes...but how did you...?"

"You might have told me about this sooner," Scott chastised her icily.

"When? Apparently you just got back yourself," Annie retorted.

"We have communicators don't we?" Scott snapped. "You are the communications expert, I would hope you would know how to use them."

"Scott, this wasn't important enough to interrupt..."

"YOU ARE NOT IN COMMAND HERE!" Scott roared, unable to hold his temper. "I am, and it's about time you learned that!"

"Now wait a minute..." Falcon interjected.

"Can it Bird Boy!" Scott growled, nearly toe to toe with Annie.

"Falcon, stay out of this." Her voice unconsciously began to mimic Vanessa's as she huffed, "You're in command here? Well then, START LEADING! Ask me what I was doing in Tahoe instead of always jumping to the wrong damn jealous conclusion!"

"I wouldn't be jealous if you didn't have every fly boy in a 100 mile radius following you around!"

"I am not even going to dignify that with a response! If you don't know where I stand by now, I'm not wasting my breath explaining it to your stupid ass!"

Scott caught her arm somewhat roughly as she started for the door, yelling. "I'm not done yet!"

"I AM!" Annie's green eyes shot him full of daggers. "Now...let...go..."

"Fine...go... whatever..." Scott let go of her arm as though the touch burned.

Annie held her head high as she stalked out of the command center, slamming the door to the garage behind her.

"Did you really need to..." Falcon started.

"Falcon, I'd take a walk if I were you," Scott ordered coldly, cutting him off. "And not in Annie's direction."

"With pleasure, SIR."

Scott noticed Hi-Tech wearing the deer in headlights look as soon as they were alone. The young recruit already seemed to be stressing out, wondering what Scott was going to say or do next. Scott reigned some of his anger in and looked around at the evidence lying on the command console, somehow managing to ask in a neutral tone, "Explain to me what you've figured out here."

"Well, the reason Annie went to Lake Tahoe in the first place was because one of her contacts was murdered trying to get this information to her. The pictures are easiest, because they explain themselves." Hi Tech waited for Scott to flip through all of them. "Obviously Contraworld recruited Cobra same as you recruited G.I. Joe."

"And has Sly Rax as a mole...I'm not surprised."

Scott focused in on Raggedy Ann and the knife lying beside her, seeing the implied statement that he didn't want to acknowledge. He shook his head to clear the painful memories and asked, "Have you analyzed the knife and doll yet?"

"Annie thinks the knife was the murder weapon. It's clean as far as we can tell," Hi Tech decided not to mention Falcon's suggestion of shipping it to the Pit, "so she's anxious to get it back to the sheriff's department...anonymously of course. We haven't looked at Raggedy Ann yet, but Annie's hoping she can tell us more about who killed her friend Butch."

"Keep your ears on Tahoe's communication channels to see if any other information comes across," Scott ordered firmly, "I'll take care of analyzing the rest of this."

"Yes sir."

* * *

The Contra Word base in the Rocky Mountains was greatly down sized after Jon Mayhem left with a small size army. Contra World success in ruining both the PNA and MASK reputations had made them desirable to other terror networks looking to rid themselves of an enemy or two. The sudden popularity resulted in Jon Mayhem leaving on long drawn out missions with no exact return date. Roxanne Trakker found herself with more downtime then she knew what to do with, especially considering he refused to take her on any of those missions.

"I told you. I wouldn't be able to concentrate if you were there."

"So your saying I'm a liability?!"

"You're my most valuable asset. I can't afford to lose you."

Roxanne Trakker pulled her shoulder length brown hair back into a ponytail thinking about their last discussion before he left, "I can't help but think he's just hiding me down here. The nerves I can take care of myself." She opened her dresser door to reveal several glass vials, syringes, and pill bottles. Her hand reached in grabbing a handful of pills and popped them into the back of her mouth.

After drinking some water, she started stretched her legs out and cracked her neck as she tried to loosen up before her morning workout a five mile run around the base. To meet her objective she would have to run through each of the 12 levels on the base. She exited her room wearing spandex shorts and top, tennis shoes, and an MP3 player.

Roxanne ran through the base corridors listening to techno music and dodging people as she went. Twenty minutes into her run she found herself in the garage. Nobody was around except for a few mechanics, but something caught her eye as being off the moment she entered. Her motorcycle Chameleon was left out in the middle of the garage floor. Her face flared up with anger as she wondered who was responsible for mishandling her vehicle. Yet the moment she stood over her bike, she found herself more dumbfounded then angry. A red Christmas bow was attached to the windshield of Chameleon.

"Good as new and I wrapped it up for you too!" A man's voice ran through her head. She held the bow in her hand and looked around the garage expecting to see somebody watching her, but nobody seemed to be paying any attention to her. She walked her bike back to its parking place and noticed a man wearing a white mechanic suite and brown hat working on an engine to a black hummer. Roxanne stood their frozen. It can't be him…can it? She marched over to the man and with a forceful hand turned him around to face her.

"What the?!" The man hollered as he was spun around to come face to face with Roxanne Trakker. She just stood there starting at him confused.

"You need something boss?"

Roxanne shook her head and walked away. What was I thinking? I must be losing my mind. Why on earth would he show his face in a base full of contra world agents?

She tried to push it out of her mind and continued on her run, but the damage was already done his face was all she could think about. The charming friendly smile she was greeted with every morning she entered the garage. The practical jokes they use to play on one another. The only kiss they ever shared. The anger on his face as he violently slammed her up against a wall the last time they were face to face. She cranked the music up louder and started to run faster.

Roxanne paused in an empty corridor and holding her head in her hands. How long has she been running? Where is she? Why does everything hurt so much? "I need to get to my room it will take away the pain," She mumbled as she dragged her feet forward with one hand still resting on her head.

The MP3 player she was wearing was no longer helping her keep her focus. Somebody had clearly tampered with it by adding THEIR song to her playlist. She could not bring herself to rip off her earphones, as she closed her eyes and let the memory flood back to her.

* * *

Boulderhill headquarters several years ago:

"I can't believe dad is forcing me to wear a fufu dress and dance with some diplomat's son." A seventeen year old Roxanne huffed wearing a mechanic suit and covered in grease.

"Oh the horror…" Buddy mocked…"that dress actually will turn you into a living breathing girl."

Roxanne threw a dirty rag at him. "Jerk…It's not the dress. Scott much better at entertaining all these strangers dad invites over and now they'll have their eyes on me and my two left feet."

"Come here…"He pulled her in the middle of the garage. "Place this hand on my shoulder," he lightly grabbed her left hand place it on his shoulder, "and the other one goes into my hand like this." His left hand interlocked with her right hand, "All you got to do is rock back in forth. It's not rocket science. Let him lead; although, if his hands go anywhere near your waist you have full right to slap him upside the head." Roxanne giggled slightly. "Next song on the radio we'll give it go."

Brian Adam "Everything I do, I do for you" started to play on the radio. Roxanne started to slowly move at the same rhythm as Buddy with their hands and arms locked together for the start of the song. Her eyes drifted towards their feet to make sure she was not stepping on his toes.

"Eyes up here." Roxanne lifted her head up allowing her blue eyes to gaze into Buddy's brown eyes.

Look into my eyes, you will see

What you mean to me

Search your heart, search your soul

And when you find me there you'll search no more

Don't tell me it's not worth tryin' for

You can't tell me it's not worth dyin' for

You know it's true

Everything I do, I do it for you

Buddy lightly twirls her and dips her to the ground and then pulls her back up. His hands now rest on her waist and her arms locked around his neck. Both directly looked into each other's eyes without a care in the world of who could be watching.

Look into your heart, you will find

There's nothin' there to hide

Take me as I am, take my life

I would give it all, I would sacrifice

A single tear fell down Roxanne face as she thought about trading her life for his last year. Buddy ran his hand over her cheek wiping it away. She moved in closer closing the distance between them. Instead of pushing her away, he held her tightly in his arms rocking her.

Don't tell me it's not worth fightin' for

I can't help it, there's nothin' I want more

You know it's true

Everything I do, I do it for you

The sound of a bucket being knocked over in the background caused the two to instantly break apart. Buddy looked around wondering where the racket came from, but when nobody came forward he figured something just fell over and calmed his nerves. "Uh…you ok. Didn't think I'd make you cry."

"Something in my eyes," She poorly lied, "What about you…I though you told me hands on my waist were like a do no enter if your life depends on it zone."

"Sorry about that," He rubbed the back of his head, "Got a little carried away."

"I'll say." She smiled back teasingly.

* * *

When the song finally ended she found herself gasping for air and unable to handle the flood of emotions. Her whole world around her left her dazed and confused. She slowly dragged her feet walking drunkenly down the corridor with her face extremely pale and her eyes looking blank. It was no longer his face that haunted her, but his voice as well.

"I'm always here for you don't forget that" a soft friendly voice stated. "Tell me you didn't do it!" An angry Buddy hollered at her. "You can run, but you can't hide." Buddy laughed. "Roxanne…."

Roxanne tripped over her feet and stumbled to the ground. She shut her eyes waiting and hoping the voices would pass.

"Roxanne…."

Roxanne felt she had no choice, but to trust her other senses. Her mind was playing too many tricks on her, yet there was something different about this time. She picked up a musty smell that was a combination of oil, sweat, and cologne. Her eyes open slowly and stared straight ahead in disbelief.

"Buddy?"

Buddy Hawks smiled and nodded, as he brought her to her feet," In the flesh."

"What are you doing here?" She asks confused.

Buddy had an arm around her to support her, as he helped her get back to her living quarters, "I came here to see you."

She couldn't tear her eyes from his face. It was far too surreal to be true. Here he was before her in a black contra world uniform looking as his everyday self, how did she not notice him sooner?

"Tony, you need me to get the medic?" Floyd Malloy asked noticing the assistance he was giving Roxanne.

"Naa it's all good, Floyd. She just sprained her ankle. Tell Vanessa she probably won't be showing up for duty today."

"I need to stay off my foot," Roxanne added to the lie seeing Floyd's questionable look towards Buddy's orders.

"Fine I'll…let her know." Floyd carried on by mumbling, "That's what you get running around base thinking it's your personal training ground."

"Tony?" Roxanne raised a brow.

"Well couldn't use my real name now could I?"

Once they finally reach Roxanne living quarters, she went over to her dresser drawer pulling out a bottle of pills.

"You don't need that." Buddy insisted knocking the bottle away from her and slamming her dresser drawer shut.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU KNOW ABOUT WHAT I NEED?"

"You need to get off that crap and come home." Buddy said sternly.

"My dad put you up to this…didn't he?" She laughed with disbelief, "Well it was a wasted effort. Cause I'm not going anywhere. Get your ass off my base before you force me to throw you in the brig."

"You'd never do it,"

"Try me."

With that challenging statement Buddy forcefully pulled her towards him and kissed her. He could sense her tighten muscles relaxing in his arms, and her lips kissing him back. When the kissing broke between them Buddy confessed, "I'm here because I want to be with you."

Roxanne looked deeply into his eyes seeing the truth in words. Her lips quivered in anticipation of what she wanted and desired for so long. "Show me how badly you want me." She manage to huff out between her lustful kisses to his lips. Buddy grinned wickedly at her request and led her over to the bed to join their body and souls as one.

* * *

Buddy sat up in bed looking down at Roxanne sleeping peacefully besides him. The images of her beautiful body and how satisfied he felt were still fresh in his mind left a crooked smile on his face. Over his lifetime he has been with so many women and never committed seriously to anyone, but she was different. All the time they spent working in the garage together clearly develop into something more than a friendship. The twenty year age difference use to bother him, but he was too late to realize that when it comes to love age doesn't matter. He wanted nothing more than to lay here and watch her sleep, but time was of the essence. It was clear from his observations that she was mentally unstable. He wasn't sure this plan to rehash her memory would work, but Dusty was right about their connection being strong enough for her to overcome years of brainwashing. There was still more work to be done. This would not be enough to save her.

Earlier that morning, while there was so much ruckus going on with Jon Mayhem's men leaving the base, he had managed to slip in and alter her medications. All the glass vials now contained harmless water and her pills were replaced with sugar tablets. As long as nobody comes in and restocks, this should keep her off their drugs for a while.

Buddy slowly moved off the bed to ensure he didn't disturb her and slid his pants back on. Out of his pocket he pulled a syringe that caused is eyes to nervously shift over to Roxanne. The drug in his hands was very experimental and he was warned to only use a small dosage, since the effects to her body would be unknown. Buddy walked over to her bedside and removed a couple of strands of hair from her serine face. Forgive me for what I'm about to do. He held syringe ready in his hands watching her closely. Got to do this quick can't give her time to react. Here's goes nothing

Roxanne Trakker's eyes shot open alert as she felt a needle jab into her arm. "WHAT THE HELL?!" She violently pushed Buddy out of her way, causing him to stagger backwards. Her hand then reached in between her mattress to pull out a medium size dagger.

Shit! Should have known better she likes to hide her toys.

She then stood before him fairly pissed off in her black tank top and underwear holding the dagger in her hands ready to strike. "I TRUSTED YOU! WHY DOES THIS NOT SURPRISE ME THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO ABOUT US! You're just trying to make me a vegetable so you can kidnap me. All this crap about wanting me was just a ploy to get me alone."

"Every word I told you was the honest to god truth." Buddy confessed. "I'm just trying to help you clear you mind. Now put the dagger down so we can talk."

"You're unbelievable. I'm just a mission to you. Jon was right. I don't know why I even cared about somebody who never loved me back." She said with utter disgust.

"You're more to me then that…you always have been. I just didn't realize it until it was too late."

"Times up Hawks…you have no more excuses to give!" She lunged forward at Buddy with the dagger.

Buddy managed to move out of the way just in the nick of time, but still got a big slash across his arm. "Uh.." he uttered as he felt the sharp sting in his arm. That could have been a lot worst. He could see her eyes were blood thirsty and talking sense at this point was not going to work. She attempted another forward attack on him, but this time he was ready. Despite the blood dripping down his arm, he managed to grab both her wrist with his hands.

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" She screamed as she tugged and pulled her arms to get out of his grip.

Buddy gritted his teeth using every ounce of strength he had to fight her off. "Snap out of it Roxy!"

Suddenly the dagger slipped from her hands and she stopped struggling within his grasp. Roxanne could feel her body becoming overly weak and collapse to her knees. Her glassy eyes looked up at Buddy, "What…what did you give me?" Before Buddy could reply Roxanne's eyes rolled to the back of her head and her body fell backwards and started to shake uncontrollably.

"Roxy!" Buddy panic as she was having a seizure right before him. He placed a pillow under her head and rolled her over to her side. "I'm so sorry Roxy…I had no idea this would happen." He said painfully watching her. "Please be alright. I only did this cause I thought it would help ya."

* * *

Four Months Ago:

Matt Trakker sat in his study trying to arrange a public relations campaign for both the PNA and MASK. His life's work was destroyed in a matter of days by Jon Mayhem staging MASK as a terrorist organization and attempting to destroy the island of Puerto Rico using the Peaceful Nation Alliance's satellite. On top of that, Trakker industries stock plummet the moment word got out about his daughter joining Contra World's ranks. The board was already threatening to remove him from his own company. He was very thankful nobody decided to show up on his doorstep with a warrant for his arrest, but there was far too much damage control that needed to be done. He sipped his coffee as he realized it would be another long day to put everything right. After having a diplomatic discussion with the United Nations President, they were able reach an agreement to allow Bruce and Alex to be release from prison. "At lease something going right…really should get Scott and Annie in on some of this." Suddenly a knock at the door alerted Matt, "Come in."

"Morning Matt I hope I'm not disturbing you from something important," Buddy Hawks apologize as he entered the room and nervously approached Matt desk.

"Could use a break anyways. What's going on?" He looked up giving Buddy his full attention.

"I've given it a great deal of thought, and I'm going deep undercover to get Roxy out of there."

"Buddy I can't ask you to do that it's too dangerous."

"I'm not just doing this for you and Scott," Buddy confessed with all seriousness, "I'm in love with your daughter."

The room was filled with silence, as Matt sat back in his leather padded chair eyeing Buddy with a great deal of scrutiny. He felt overwhelm with anger and betrayal. His best friend whom he allowed his daughter to work closely with for years has admitted to having a relationship behind his back. "I'm not ok with this. She's half you age!"

"I know that and that's exactly why I never took advantage of her."

"I doubt that. You're telling me you never held her in your arms…you never kissed her…never wanted something more from her?"

"Well I…"Buddy was speechless. How the heck did he know this? Why did he never call me out on it?

"Ever since Scott brought to my attention regarding Roxanne's infatuation with you, I've been monitoring her visits to the garage bit more closely. I assume this whole idea of you and her was some fantasy she made up in her head. Imagine my surprise when I saw my best friend making out with my eighteen year old daughter," Matt admitted still keeping a level head despite the anger he had built up inside. " I thought about confronting you and even possibly letting you go. But I knew she was happy around you…and I couldn't bear the thought of taking that way. Not after everything she's been through in her life. I really thought," Matt shook his head looking down disappointed in himself, "that sending her away to college keeping you two apart was the solution. Yet the moment she left the nest that snake grabbed her." Jon Mayhem's words still rang through is mind as he boasted about saving and comforting his fragile daughter. It threw a wrench into his heart that he couldn't hang on to his little girl.

"You couldn't have known that would happen, Matt" Buddy said seeing the regret on his friends face. "I hoped myself that she'd start a new life and find a proper boyfriend when you sent her to New York, but this is not how things turned out. He manipulated and twisted her mind do his bidding."

"Listen Matt…I care a great deal for Roxanne," Buddy laid his cards out and gives matt a stern look, "I'm going to go do this with or without your blessing. I'm being upfront about this, because I know you not going to approve what I have to do to get thought to her. But realize I'll treat her a thousand times better than son of bitch Jon Mayhem ever will." Matt just looked to Buddy still uncertain if he's ready to accept that truth.

"You remember Mexico, Matt, when the girls got kidnapped with me. Well Roxy in this mess because of me." Buddy choked up slightly. "She gave Jon Mayhem a life bonding contract to save my life. It's not right...my life isn't worth a lifetime of servitude under that man…I can't let her keep doing this. I owe her far too much to stand by and let this happen."

"So she unselfishly gave a life for a life," Matt stated trying to process the information before him. He remembered the discussion after the girls were rescued in Mexico about Roxanne negotiating with the terrorist Jon Mayhem. Whatever she agreed to it was enough to convince him to give an antidote to Buddy Hawks who was moments away from death. She was very tight lip about the deal and clearly lied to cover the arrangement. "Jon more than likely knew Roxanne wouldn't stay true the arrangement after the rescue, not without some reinforcement."

"He'd had to scare the bejesus out of her and with him manipulating her meds. I don't think she realize what was happening until it was too late," Buddy added.

"You can't just simply walk in there and pull her out," Matt sadly contradicts Buddy's idea. "We're talking about years of brainwashing."

"I know. I'm not saying this is gonna be easy. I gotta at least try."

Matt nodded in agreement feeling there could still be some hope to save his daughter from that mad man's clutches, "Alright I'll support you in anyway I can. Just do me a favor. Talk to Julio before you leave."

"I'd prefer to keep my undercover out of the common knowledge of the group."

"I know, but he mention to me there might be away to help her. Any edge we can get only improves your chances of this working."

"I'll do that Matt," Buddy reached across the grab Matt hand, "I'm bringing her home. I swear on it."

"I don't doubt it," Matt embraces his hand and smiles.

* * *

Present day:

Out of the corner of his eye, Buddy watched Roxanne closely as he attended to his wounded right arm. She was still lying on floor where he left her, but at least her body stopped showing signs of tremors. He searched through Roxanne private bathroom for something to wrap his arm in. The cut was deep enough that he needed stiches, but stopping the bleeding was good enough for now. Leaving her alone in her current state was far too risky.

"Remind me never to piss you off," Buddy mumbled to himself as he pulled out some bandages and started to wrap his arm. He mentally sighted as he wonder how long she would remain in this state. Would she wake up as herself or would he have to fight her off again. Just then he heard a soft whimper coming from her direction. He slowly walked over to Roxanne and kneeled by her side, "Roxanne..?"

Roxanne's eyes were partially open as she laid on her side. She was visibly crying with her shaky breathing and odd murmurs, but no tears were spouting down her face. Buddy sat down next to her and gently pulled her into his arm, "Sssshhhhh. I'm right here with you."

"I…I can't do this…anymore," She softly whined, "end my pain I can't take it."

"I'll be your strength to carry you through this," His lip kissed her head, "No matter what we'll fight this together."

"I miss home…the garage…you…" Roxanne looked up at Buddy with sleep eyes, "But I feel it slipping again…I'm so scared of what I'm gonna do next."

He lightly caressed her face, "When you're better I'll take you home, I promise. What you're gonna do next is close your eyes and let the medicine do its job."

"What…what if I..."

Buddy moved in and softly kissed her lips, "No more what ifs…just rest."

"I love you." Roxanne managed to slip out before falling into a deep sleep.

"I know." Buddy smiled knowing that the real Roxy was still inside that troubled mind. He thought about putting her bed, but holding her in his arms felt so right. "Sweet dreams…I'll be here when you wake up."


	5. Chapter 5

(Special thanks to our two reviewers Chris and Susan. We love getting feedback and with a request to write more we couldn't resist posting another chapter.)

MASK SAGA 4: REDEMPTION

Chapter 5

Robert Blais, aka Cross Country, took one last walk around Boulderhill Garage before he locked up for the night. He'd already switched out his Joe/MASK uniform for some civvies: t-shirt, jeans, and his favorite Confederate emblazoned denim jacket. He paused in the vehicle bay long enough for a progress check on Gator. He'd dug out all the bullets and removed the damaged panels, but there was still a lot more to do before the jeep would be up and running again.

"Don't think yer ready for metallic cowboy boots just yet my friend," He quipped lightly as he gave the hood a friendly pat.

Cross Country had just stepped past Gator on his way to check on Phoenix when he heard an unmistakable sound coming from that direction. He passed Bullet and Bulldog, stopping momentarily to lean on Wildcat and take in the scene before him.

Annie sat with her back against Phoenix's rear tire, arms wrapped around her pulled up knees, crying. Desperate sobs wracked her entire body as she leaned against her bike. Clearly she thought she was alone in the garage. Cross Country doubted she would let herself break down otherwise, not with Falcon waiting to take advantage of her troubled relationship with Scott. Trying to sort the poor girl out was going to take some very delicate maneuvering.

A pair of gentle, strong hands pulled Annie up onto Phoenix's bike seat as she heard Cross Country's North Carolina accent. "Girl, you are just a right mess."

Annie looked up at him through her unbound red hair, unsure exactly what to say. Pretending she was fine wasn't exactly an option anymore.

"I'm lockin' up and grabbin' a bite to eat. I'm buying if you wanna come along. If you don't, that's okay too. I can drop you off anywhere you wanna go. Jessie's place, yer daddy's place...you just say where." He transfixed her with a penetrating gaze. "But one thing is for damn sure...I'm not leavin' you here cryin' your heart out."

Annie wiped away some tears and found her voice, albeit cracked. "Jess has her own problems. Dusty's not recovering very well. It's part of the reason she hasn't been back on duty since dumping the Sludge. And we haven't really needed her." She paused. "I was going to go to Dad's later...but not...now...like this. He worries enough as it is. I should be worrying about him."

"You should be worryin' about you." Cross Country's tone stayed rock solid. "That mean you're comin' with me, then?"

Annie shivered and rubbed her arms. "I don't know if that's such a good idea either. It just...proves Scott right..."

The southerner's dander was clearly up. "In my opinion and experience, men who act the insecure, jealous fool deserve everything they get thrown at 'em." He held out his hand, "You comin'?"

Annie capitulated with a deep sigh. "Where are we going?"

"I dunno yet. That's the fun part."

* * *

"Somethin' in that coffee gonna tell me what's really wrong with you?" Cross Country reached over and slid Annie's coffee cup toward his side of the table, glancing down into it. "You been starin' at it for five minutes."

Cross Country had used his instinctive sense of direction to ferret out a nice little Mom n' Pop Cafe in a section of downtown that was unfamiliar to Annie. Talk was light between trying to slowly draw her out and the excellent cooking. He hoped it would be easier now that they were down to just coffee.

He slid the cup back over to her with a twinkle in his brown eyes. "What's that ribbon of creamer mean?"

"It means this coffee is getting cold," Annie answered dryly, shaking her head at him.

He waved the waitress over for a couple refills and tried again with a little more seriousness. "You finally wanna tell me what's goin' on under that little red head of yours?"

Annie sipped her coffee to avoid answering right away. Instinctively she knew she could trust Cross Country, but she didn't want to thicken the already pea soup team tension. Then again, if he'd already overheard her and Scott's yelling match, how much worse could it get? She should talk to somebody... and chances were Cross Country wasn't going to let go of this until she did.

"I'm just...tired," Annie said finally, "tired of the balancing act, tired of the bullshit drama, and most of all, tired of being made out to be the bad guy." She paused, continuing more emphatically, "I'm not Vanessa! I'm not out to destroy MASK and seize power! I've been trying to make this complete FUBAR work!"

Cross Country leaned forward, adopting an attentive posture while remaining completely silent. Meanwhile, Annie could feel something more deeply rooted welling up inside her and frankly didn't care to stop it from spilling out her mouth.

"I am such an IDIOT for willingly and deliberately hamstringing myself, chaining myself to a desk, and freezing all the career potential I had in the Rangers for this shit."

"Sorry darlin' but I think you lost me," Cross Country looked puzzled.

Annie explained further, "I could have been out in the field like my fellow Rangers. I could be doubling for Robin as a field medic...I could be out tracking with Cody. If I was so inclined, I could take piloting lessons and learn to fly the chopper like Avila and Dad!" Annie put her elbows on the table and rested her head in her hands. "But no, I stayed in a position where I would easily be available because I couldn't be paged 30,000 feet above a mountaintop or rappelling down a steep rock face. I put my career on semi-permanent hold because I believed in this team. I believed..." She felt the tears coming back, "...in Scott."

"So what are ya thinkin' now?" Cross Country's question gently probed and could be taken any number of ways.

"I am thinking," Annie said slowly, "about something Falcon said to me in Lake Tahoe. He said that I would make one hell of a Joe and that G.I. Joe was willing to recruit me if I wanted it."

"Falcon and I don't agree on much, but we can agree on that. You would make a helluva G.I. Joe. And the ladies would just love you." He shot her a warm smile and continued very carefully. "Should I take the liberty of assumin' you're considering the idea?"

"It keeps crossing my mind. And I've learned from experience that if I get stuck on an idea, it's time to entertain it."

"Would you like my advice how to do that?"

Annie loved how Cross Country hadn't presumed anything about their conversation and told him so with her first genuine smile of the evening. "Absolutely."

"I would recommend startin' with a visit to the Pit. Have a look around, see for yerself what it's all about, and decide if you wanna sign up from there." Cross Country's brown eyes started to twinkle again, "We got an obstacle course that'll make any mountain maneuver you've tried look like an evenin' jog by comparison."

Annie's laugh was lost amidst a huge yawn. "I think it's time to go home to Dad's and sleep on the idea."

"All right then darlin'...after you..."

* * *

I could get used to this... Annie found herself thinking when Cross Country chivalrously opened up the passenger side door of his pickup. She hopped out of the oversized truck easily and turned to face him as he shut the door. "Thanks for talking me into this. I had a nice time."

"My pleasure, darlin'." Cross Country gave her a very brief hug and climbed back into the driver's seat. "Let me know what you decide about that visit and I'll set it up for ya."

"I will. Thanks again."

Annie started digging for her spare set of house keys just as a hand reached out of the shadows and opened the door. "Decide what, exactly?"

Annie thought better of accusing Brad of lurking about and eavesdropping since it was his house. "Whether I want to visit the Pit or not."

"G.I Joe headquarters? I wasn't aware they were recruiting..." The look on his face as they walked inside spoke volumes.

"Dad, can we NOT talk about this right now?"

"I assumed you were at my door to talk about something..." His tone was disingenuously light. "...like maybe why you showed up with MASK's new country boy mechanic...someone who obviously hits one of your soft spots."

Annie flopped down onto Brad's couch and flung her head back, staring up at the ceiling. I'm so tired of all this. I really do need a break. "All right Dad, you win. I'm considering Robert's friendly offer of visiting the Pit and seeing what G.I Joe life is like."

"Robert..." Brad said the name so that it had varying degrees of connotation as he sat down beside her.

Annie rolled her head and her eyes toward him. "Don't you dare try to jump him in the garage either! He's only being a friend and trying to help."

"All right Annie, you win this one." He pulled her close. "You staying?" Annie nodded sleepily against his shoulder. "Then at least let me cook you breakfast before you decide to go running off in the morning."

"Okay."

* * *

A Raggedy Anne doll was propped up on a computer scanner, inside a secret office located at Matt Trakker's mansion. Scott Trakker had played twenty questions with the MASK computer all night long trying to get some sort of lead from the items in the evidence box from Lake Tahoe. "The doll had to come from somewhere, not like Contra World would keep a supply handy. I know this is the key." A sly smile appeared on his face as a light-bulb went off in his head, "Who do I know that works in the toy industry? Bruce Sato. He could get me the info I need to crack this. Who needs a computer when good old fashion detective work will solve this."

The sound of the door creeping open jolted Scott to turn around. "I thought you moved out?" Matt Trakker lightly joked as he entered the room.

"There too much work to be done," Scott replied with a yawn.

Matt was no fool. He may not be leading this new MASK team, but he had eyes and ears all over the place to know what was really going on. "This is exactly why you should be relying on your team's experiences and skills. This job is not a one man operation. The Gi Joes and Annie…."

"Stop right there!" Scott abruptly cut his father off, "Cause if you're planning to take her Self Righteousness' side I don't want to hear it. Tell me why exactly am I'm leading this team, when clearly Annie was the better choice for the gig."

"I can't believe your even asking me that question. I know how much MASK means to you having grown up alongside it your whole life. All the missions, experiences, and people MASK has helped inspired you to want to lead and continue MASK for another generation. Annie never wanted anything to do with MASK, until you convinced her to join as your second in command. You two were a perfect fit with you skill sets complementing each other, but look at you two now?" Matt sighed feeling this was getting off topic. "Listen Scott being a leader isn't easy, but it begins with trusting your teammates."

"Trust?!" Scott laughed with disbelief, "I got a bunch of Gi Joes whispering behind my back and Annie probably already in bed with them."

Matt crossed his arms showing he was not amused by his son's accusations, "I would open your eyes a bit more. Clearly your jealousy is clouding you judgment."

"You know…that's a good idea dad. I've been considering looking at the security tapes."

"What exactly do you hope to find?"

"Proof that I'm not some crazy incompetent jealous little rich brat you're all making me out to be."

Matt could see the anger and frustration all over his son face, "Son you keep going down this path you're gonna lose it all MASK, Annie,…"

"Family?" Scott threw out there to stop his father's rambling, "The clue to finding Roxy is in this room. I'm not giving up and letting somebody else bring her in." Matt glanced at the doll on the scanner knowing it was a message from his daughter to Annie Turner. Scott continued on, "The moment I give this box to the Joes. We'll lose her forever."

"It's time to face the facts son. She is lost forever," Matt replied in a cold tone with hard eyes directly on his son.

"You of all people," Scott spoke with shock, "I never expected you to give up on her."

"I've come to terms with this situation and it's about time you did too. I would hand that box over the experts and let them take over the investigation." He harshly replied and glanced down at his watch giving the impression his son was wasting his valuable time, "I have an appointment with Julio this morning. I trust you'll try to get some rest, before Trakker industries shareholder meeting."

"Do you really need me there?"

"You do realize who trying to buy us out?" Matt returned his full attention to Scott.

"Yeah I read the papers."

"The papers don't tell you Extensive Enterprises is link to Cobra. This is serious and all the more reason not to tick off GI Joe command. Our technology cannot get into Cobra's hands!"

"I get ya dad…I'll be there," He reluctantly agreed.

"Good…wrap up whatever it is you're doing and get some rest."

The moment Matt left the room Scott picked up the picture of Sly Rax wearing the Crimson Guard uniform and thought about the information his father just disclosed to him. "It can't be a coincidence. Contraworld is working with Cobra. Extensive Enterprise works for Cobra and is trying to acquire Trakker Industries. Jon Mayhem probably sets to gain a lot by taking down Trakker Industries and leaving my father in ruins. No wonder the GI Joes agreed to merge with MASK our so call territories have crossed. With everything that has happen the last few months, they probably had heads up on that."

Scott pulled up the Boulderhill security feed from yesterday. He painfully relived the yelling match between him and Annie, as much as he felt like a jerk his pride was still hurting to admit fault. He continued to watch as he ordered Falcon to take off in the opposite direction. Scott was curious to see where Falcon chose to walk off to. Did he rejoin with Annie behind his back?

An irritated Falcon headed down the hall to the Boulderhill gym where Chuckles was working out.

"Glad I didn't offer to help with the investigation," Chuckles spoke up while lifting a 100 pound weight, "I could hear that ruckus from all the way down here."

"Given the current events, he's not going to be in charge much longer."

Scott hit the repeat button. "…not going to be in charge much longer." He slowly blinked trying to take in Falcon's words. "Why would he say that with such conviction?" He continued to play the tape hoping to find out more.

Chuckles just nodded and smiled, "I hear the top brass mention about a peace delegation being needed somewhere when the time comes."

Falcon smirked. "Won't he be in shock when we take the rug right from under him?"

After that remark both Chuckles and Falcon went their separate ways. Scott rested his hand on his chin trying to figure out what this cryptic message meant. "Their definitely planning to dethrone me, but what do they mean when the time comes?"

Scott knew he needed to heed his father's advice about getting some rest after pulling an all-nighter, but all the evidence laid out before him suggested he didn't have much time. He needed to follow his lead to find his sister, while figuring out what GI Joe was planning behind his back. "Computer pull all security footage of agents Falcon and Chuckles."

"108,000 minutes of achieve footage on file." The computer replied.

"That's what I was afraid of. Let's start from day one." Scott grabbed a fresh cup of coffee and made himself cozy in the padded computer chair, as he watch the GI Joes step foot into Boulderhill garage for the first time.

* * *

"That must have been one hell of a sprain ankle to keep you off duty for seven days." Vanessa stated with a smirked as she notice Roxanne Trakker walking towards her on the garage catwalk.

"I'm in no mood for your crap Vanessa." She snapped, "What do you have to report?"

"Stinger just been dropped off by the recovery squad and no additional orders yet from command."

Roxanne eyes shifted to Stinger as she leaned over the catwalk railing. The vehicle was surrounded by several mechanics trying to remove the damage engine. "How long before it's operational?"

"Should be ready by tomorrow morning…I have the team schedule to work on it all night."

She nodded and let her eyes then focused on the one of the mechanics, Buddy Hawks.

"I do need you to sign these orders for…"

Roxanne did not hear a word she was saying. Her mind was drifting back to her days and nights of bliss with Buddy. There were times she could not remember what had happen and others that caused her face to flush red.

Vanessa could tell she was spacing out and that everything she was saying was going in one ear and out the other. She knew the young girl's eyes were lock on her long time crush. Yet her instincts grew alarmed as she saw her leaning too far out with no regards to her safety. Her hand clamped on Roxanne shoulder and pulled her away from the edge of the catwalk, "Are you paying attention?"

Roxanne rubbed her temple and poorly lied. "Yes…you're boring me. Give me whatever it is…I'll sign it."

"Of course," Vanessa softly smiled as she thrust a clipboard and pen into Roxanne hands and watched her signed each piece of paper without reviewing it.

"You need anything else of me today?"

"No this will do," She takes the clipboard back; "You feeling alright Roxy…you seem out of it."

"I…I'm just tired," She begins to walk away but halts, "Do me a favor get Dagger off kitchen detail whatever he making is making me nauseated. I should have known better than to assign him to mess hall duty."

"Of course….. just take it easy I got this all covered," Vanessa said reassuring her. "If you start feeling nauseous again I try sucking on some lemons….it'll help."

Roxanne gave her a strange look wondering why she would even say such a thing before heading into her office.

* * *

"Dagger…Floyd..front and center," Vanessa called out as she entered the mess hall. The two former VENOM agents reduce to measly cafeteria workers came out of the kitchen wearing hairnets and dirty white aprons.

"What miscellaneous crap is she throwing at us now?" Floyd asked with frustration with all the odd jobs he's been doing since being demoted.

"New orders boys," She handed paper work to both Cliff Dagger and Floyd Malloy.

"It's about freak'n time." Dagger stated excited as he threw off the apron and hairnet.

"This is a joke right?" Floyd asked as he read the piece of paper twice.

"Is it? After all it has her signature approving you new orders." Vanessa crossed her arms and gave a sly smile.

"How do I know Miss Split Personality isn't staging this to put a bullet in my back?"

"I got it covered," She reassured," She's too preoccupy with other things to realize what really going on."

"What's that?" Cliff Dagger asked.

"Can't you read?" Floyd replied in an irritated tone, but was only met by Dagger's blank stare coming from his one good eye. "We're taking the masks and the vehicles to an undisclosed location."

"Only the three of us will know that location for now." Vanessa insisted.

"Doesn't that kind of leave us with our pants down not having our mask and assault vehicles." Dagger asked.

"That's Jon Mayhem problem…not ours. We'll start moving the equipment tonight and only keep what we need to ensure our speedy escape."

"Piranha and Jackhammer might be a good place to start. We'll want to get all the land base vehicles out first." Floyd suggested.

"Why can't I keep my vehicle here with me? She gets rather lonely at night." Dagger asked.

Vanessa rolled her eyes ignoring that comment altogether, "Taking flight is our best chance to leave in a hurry. So I agree we'll save Manta, Switchblade, and Vampire for last."

"Crazy how a couple months ago we were talking mutiny and here we are finally pulling it off. It's a about time VENOM separate itself from all this political bull shit call Contra World."

"Don't let it go to your head until we're in the clear," She reminded Floyd.

"It will be like old times with the team back together." Dagger reminisced.

"Let get something straight nobody said anything about the old team. We're in business for ourselves."

"What about Rax and Bruno?" Floyd asked.

"It's too risky. The moment you drop a hint to either one of them Jon Mayhem gonna know what's up. Besides they can join up with the new VENOM later if the price is right." She grinned wickedly at the thought of Sly Rax having to acknowledge her as the new VENOM leader, in order to get his precious bike back.

"Alright…let's get to work Dagger," Floyd pats the muscle man's shoulder showing he was ready to get down to business.

"Yeah..but who gonna watch my soup? I still have some ingredients to add and the pot needs to be stirred every five minutes."

"Forget the food you moron! We're finally getting real work to do."

"Who you calling a moron?" Dagger flexed his muscles.

Floyd felt himself nearly bite his tongue by forgetting that Cliff Dagger was three times his size, "What I meant to say we'll have somebody else take over while we do this other job. OK?"

Cliff Dagger nodded with approval, "That's better."

Vanessa shook her head, as she left the room, realizing she was surrounding herself with the same incompetent people that were Miles Mayhem's down fall. Yet their loyalty was far more important, until somebody better comes along. Although she did have one man in mind, but he'd never take the job.

Vanessa headed back to the garage and noticed a certain somebody lurking around their parts room, "Clutch Hawks!"

"Do you mind not using that name…I'm undercover remember," Buddy Hawks replied; "Besides I hate it when you call me that."

"I think it suits you better." She shut the door behind her and locked it to ensure they were not disturbed. "I see your taking your sweet little time taking care of my Roxy problem."

"I didn't say I'd solve it overnight. It just gonna take a little longer."

"I suggest you hurry it up before she starts showing."

Buddy looked at her offended as if that was the most absurd things she could say, "You are absolutely hysterical you know that. It's the drugs that are making her loopy."

"Sure whatever you say."

"Give it another week, she'll be more than willing to walk out the front door and leave this life behind. The drugs are working, I just can't give her too high of a dosage without killing her."

"I can tell your plan is working, but I can't guarantee you'll have another week."

"Planning something yourself?" Buddy questioned.

"Maybe…can't say...but I'd start looking for a plan B for when things go south if you catch my drift."

Buddy paced about the room thinking about how he could get Roxanne off the base with the lease amount of difficulty, "Can you leave me Chameleon? That might be my only tool to get her leave base."

"I figured you'd want it," Vanessa tossed a set of keys over to Buddy. Yet before Buddy could reply 'thanks,' she walked away.


	6. Chapter 6

MASK SAGA 4: REDEMPTION

Chapter 6

The country music piping throughout the entirety of Boulderhill Garage told Annie that Cross Country was the only person here as early as she. She could also smell coffee brewing and smiled to herself as her nose followed the scent. The coffee and the music would keep the atmosphere relaxed for a little while longer, hopefully long enough for her to catch up from her week long absence.

She didn't have long to wait for her caffeine fix. Cross Country met her halfway with a lopsided grin and a cup of coffee in each hand, offering her one. "Mornin' Annie. Welcome Back."

"Thanks," She smiled back, sipping carefully. "You're carrying on a fine tradition. Buddy used to bring me my first cup of coffee in the morning. He also joked that talking to me before my second was pointless."

"Guess we better discuss those updates for Phoenix later then," Cross Country laughed, while studying her carefully. "You look refreshed. Seems like the Pit done ya some good."

"Yes...and no..." Annie answered cryptically with a slightly nervous chuckle. "That's definitely a second cup of coffee conversation."

* * *

** G.I Joe Headquarters-aka "The Pit"

Yesterday Morning- 08:00 **

"I'm sorry...it's 08:00 and I'm only on my first cup of coffee." Annie took another sip as she glanced suspiciously over the desk at G.I. Joe's Warrant Officer, Flint. "Because I'm useless before my second, I couldn't possibly have heard you correctly."

"That Duke is ready to recruit you on the spot?" Flint asked slyly with an army perfect smirk. "He's getting General Hawk's signature as we speak."

"This is a joke, right?" Annie's disbelief echoed throughout the room.

"I don't waste the General's time with jokes. He's a busy man," answered the gruff voice of G.I. Joe's second in command. Duke stepped through the open door of Flint's office and closed it tightly while slapping a form down in front of Annie and handing her a pen. "As you can see, the ink isn't even dry on his signature. So, you just sign there," he pointed to a line on the form, "and we'll give you a week served off of basic training."

The look on Duke's face stopped Annie from asking if someone had put him up to this. Instead, she twirled the pen between her thumb and forefinger as she contemplated the recruitment form in front of her. The reality of the situation finally struck a few moments later.

"You ARE serious..."

"I don't buy that this is a complete surprise to you, Annie," Flint pointed out in his easy going manner. "Even with only one cup of coffee."

"No...not exactly..." she said haltingly with a brief chuckle. "I knew it might happen in the merge...but I didn't expect to be offered a job right now...during what was supposed to be an unofficial visit."

Duke's blue eyes twinkled but his face was otherwise expressionless. "We've had our eye on you ever since we got your personnel file. And you wouldn't be here if you weren't considering the option. So what's the problem?"

Once again she took a sip of coffee to momentarily avoid the question. "The problem...is asking me to make a life changing decision after a week."

"Are you sure it's not false modesty?" Flint prompted. "You know full well you've got a lot of untapped potential you're not using."

"And we want it. We don't want you wasting it out of some misplaced sense of loyalty," Duke added somewhat harshly. "It's no secret MASK hasn't been doing you any favors lately."

Ouch. These guys aren't pulling any punches. Annie stopped twirling the pen and studied the recruitment form again. So tempting...solve all my problems with just my signature...

Flint disappeared momentarily and came back with more coffee, setting it down next to the paperwork on the desk. His face was expressionless but his eyes were full of mischief under his army beret. "Second cup."

Duke folded his arms across his chest and demanded, "So what's it gonna be?"

The good cop, bad cop routine immediately became apparent to Annie. She looked at the form one last time, sipped some fresh coffee, and sat back in her chair, looking up at the two of them.

"It isn't just MASK I'm considering here. It's the High Mountain Rangers too. I might only be their desk jockey, but it's an important job. Things don't get coordinated right in those mountains and people die. I can't just leave them in the lurch." She paused to collect her thoughts, "Not only that, but they've been like family to me. And they'd kick my ass if they thought I was making a snap decision just to avoid facing my problems."

"She's got a good point there," Flint acknowledged, glancing sidelong at Duke, who was saying nothing.

Annie turned her full attention to G.I. Joe's first sergeant. "Let me be very clear here...I'm flattered. Very flattered. I know not everyone gets an opportunity to join America's highly trained special missions force. And it's a hell of a tempting offer. I'm not saying no...I'm saying I need to think about it."

"Hmm. Well, when you put it like that..." The corners of Duke's mouth twitched in contemplation. He folded up the recruitment form, slid it into an envelope from Flint's desk, and replaced that with the pen in Annie's hand. "Hang on to this until you're ready to sign up. It's an open ended offer..."

* * *

**Present**

A ringing in Annie's ears brought her out of her reverie. She glanced over to find Cross Country hard at work on the vehicles but that wasn't where the sound was coming from. She finally remembered she'd slipped on her cell phone earpiece and answered the incoming call.

Brad's voice was on the other line. "You wanted me to come in and run some interference today?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Annie replied. "I wish you didn't have to...I'd rather you were out enjoying your semi-retirement."

"You and Scott get your act together and I just might be able to do that."

"It's on my to do list. I'll see you in a bit."

Annie hung up and headed over to Hi-Tech just settling into his computer station.

"Morning youngster," She smiled warmly at him.

"Annie!" Hi-Tech looked a little startled. "You're back!"

"I am. Were you able to dig up anything else on Butch for me?"

He looked momentarily puzzled then exclaimed, "Oh yeah!" He quickly pulled up an information file for Annie to view over his shoulder. "I'm sure you've seen the rap sheet. Thought he was a loner until I discovered he has an estranged ex-wife and daughter on the East coast. He was just about to be hauled in for back child support..."

"This is great work. Do me a favor and give those numbers to Dad when he gets here. He'll know to reach out and see if there's anything we can do to help. I owe Butch at least that much."

Hi-Tech suddenly remembered something and gave Annie a pained look. "Uh...I...uh..gave that evidence box to Scott. He said he wanted to analyze it further."

"No worries." Annie forced her tone and expression to remain friendly. "I need to talk to him anyway."

She turned around to see Chuckles walking in for the start of his shift. "Enjoy your trip?" he asked with a sly smirk.

Annie jotted down a few more notes on her notepad. "I did, thanks."

Falcon burst into the garage at high warp, interrupting the conversation before they had a chance to continue. "You went to the Pit without me!" he immediately accused.

"Whining doesn't suit you, Lieutenant." Annie simply shook her head at Falcon's petulant tone.

"I could have shown you around..." Falcon continued, looking much like a forlorn puppy.

"LIke you showed Heather?" Chuckles needled him.

Falcon glared over at Chuckles. "Did you have to bring that up?"

"Boys," Annie interjected quietly, "I'm a big girl. I did just fine by my own self."

"I'm just curious how you got through the gate in the first place," Chuckles mused. "Not like you can just walk up and ask for a visitor's pass."

"Cross Country arranged it."

"Him?!" Falcon sputtered incredulously, jerking his thumb in the direction of the vehicle bay where Annie could see Cross Country with a grease rag in his hand, pretending not to notice what was going on. "What's he got that I don't?"

Annie adopted a stance that clearly stated she wasn't impressed and shot Falcon a sharp look. "Look, Falcon, we need to get something straight...this is NOT a competition! I'm getting really sick of..."

The WHOOSH of the secret entrance opening sounded way too loudly throughout the garage.

"Red Alert Captain," quipped Chuckles.

Annie turned toward the sound and immediately snapped orders, "You two go find something constructive to do and stay out of whatever happens."

She didn't wait for a response. She strode over to the secret entrance and waited. The Scott Trakker that walked off the lift was not the Scott Trakker she'd fallen in love with. This Scott Trakker doppleganger clearly looked like he'd been sleeping in the same rumpled clothes for days, though judging by the dark circles under his eyes, Annie doubted he'd been sleeping at all. The unshaven five o'clock shadow she might have found handsome and rugged at one time had grown over into a scraggly mess. His wavy and naturally tousled hair looked like it hadn't been combed the entire time she'd been gone. Annie deliberately blocked his entry, preparing for a fight if necessary. There was no way she was letting the wild man he'd become anywhere near the garage.

"Scott, this nonsense has gone on long enough. We need to talk. You look like hell and I'm beginning to get concerned."

"Concerned?" He snorted back, looking at her darkly through nearly black eyes. "Forgive me for not putting a lot of stock in that Your Highness, especially when you take off to G.I. Joe headquarters for a week without telling me."

Annie bit her tongue sharply and neatly sidestepped him when he tried to get around her, "That, among other things, is what I wanted to discuss with you. Privately. We can go back up to the mansion if that makes you more comfortable."

She blocked Scott again, this time when he physically tried to move her out of the way. He resorted to raising his voice to an embarrassingly high level. "Why, are you uncomfortable sharing what you have to say with the group? Are you keeping secrets from your new friends in G.I. Joe too?"

Annie took a deep breath and tried to cool Scott down by meeting him halfway, "Well, something that the group is already aware of is the evidence from Lake Tahoe. Did you send that back to the Sheriff like I wanted?"

"No."

The sneer evident in that one word told Annie that Scott could care less what she wanted, which grated down the last of the patience she possessed. "Look Scott, if you want to be angry with me for no good reason, fine. If you want to walk around in a jealous fit looking like a crazed wild man, that's fine too. But do not put the career I worked my ass off for in jeopardy!"

"Worked for...ha!" Scott laughed mirthlessly. "I know exactly how you got that Ranger job..."

From his vantage point in the vehicle bay, Cross Country stopped pretending that he wasn't listening and put his full attention on the argument happening between the two MASK leaders. He gave Scott that last dig on Annie for free but had no intention of letting him have another.

Despite her best efforts, Annie lost her temper, "Is this your idea of some kind of twisted payback? Are you TRYING to get me arrested and sent to jail?"

"Oh don't worry Princess," Scott cooed maliciously, "your new Army buddies will bail you out. Won't you guys?" he yelled loudly over Annie's shoulder.

"Oh you betcha," Cross Country muttered, throwing down the grease rag he was holding, "You done crossed the line, boy..."

He started marching toward Scott and Annie full bore when Falcon and Chuckles tried to stop him.

"Whoa, where you going Country Boy?" Chuckles asked him.

Falcon laid a hand on his arm. "She said to stay out of it."

Cross Country shook Falcon off and kept walking, "Yeah, I heard..."

Chuckles held Falcon back, "Hold on, he's in full redneck mode. Just wait a minute...this could be interesting."

Cross Country made it halfway across the garage when he heard Annie's voice again.

"You know what, Scott, you're right. Why the hell am I still wasting my time on you when I could have so much better?"

Cross Country never saw it coming. Before he realized what was happening, Annie had launched herself into his arms and kissed him quite passionately. Being a man, albeit surprised, he did the instinctive thing and returned the favor.

She broke it off with a wicked smile, wrapping her arms around his waist and turning the two of them toward the vehicle bay, commenting loudly and seductively, "You wanted to discuss parts, didn't you? I've got all kinds of parts I can show you..."

Scott stood in the secret entryway, stunned beyond any form of existing measurement. He was still staring at the newly formed couple when Brad Turner entered the garage. Scott barely heard him tell Falcon and Chuckles to move off and stop gawking, but he definitely felt the business end of Brad's cane being shoved into his rib cage.

"I've seen more of Vanessa in Annie this past month than I have her entire lifetime and it scares the hell out of me," Brad said to him. "What should scare the hell out of you is THAT." He removed his cane from Scott's ribs and pointed it at Annie and Cross Country. "A guy like that is going to pick up the pieces of Annie's broken heart if you continue the track you're on." Brad paused to let his words sink in. "I'm here to watch things...you get your ass back up to the mansion, clean yourself up, get some sleep, and figure out what's really important to you before it's too late."

* * *

That was the last draw for Annie Turner. After being away one week at the PIT, she only returned to the same chaos she called her life. The constant fighting with Scott had made her increasing unhappy. She had to be honest with herself HE was the only reason she stuck around for as long as she did. Somewhere in the back of her head she told herself she could piece this relationship back together, but clearly she was fooling herself. "I've made up my mind," she spoke out loud to herself riding the MASK transport to Boulderhill headquarters, "It's time I've moved on with my life and stop living in his shadow."

Her plan was to visit Scott at the mansion to break the news, but she was disappointed to learn from Matt that Scott planned to work after hours at Boulderhill. She couldn't help, but think of the sorry state he was in earlier, yet he did it to himself. All those conspiracy theories and jealous accusations had alienated him from the group. A crooked smile appeared on her face as she remember kissing Cross Country and getting the look of satisfaction of seeing Scott's shocked face. "He was asking for it…"

She exited the transport as it arrived at its destination only to see the emergency lights running around the base. It was 7 o'clock at night and everyone was gone for the day. She walked down the corridors until she heard gun fire coming from the firing range. _In his mental state should he really be firing a loaded gun? _

Annie cautiously entered the firing range and noticed a large black duffle bag sitting on the back table. Just by peering it over it she could see several guns, ammo clips, and grenades. _What the hell is he up to? _She snapped back to attention as she heard Scott change the clip on the gun he was using and firing again to a human paper target.

"What are you doing?" She asked crossing her arms, after Scott took his last shot and admired his shooting.

"Definitely not as good as you, but close enough," Scott remarked pulling the target close enough to show he nearly missed some vital strike points.

"That's not answering my question."

Scott turned around to face her. He was wearing an all black stealth uniform and no longer looking in the pathetic state he was in earlier. His face was clean shaven and hair combed back and slick. Somehow he managed to do a 180 in a matter of hours that left Annie baffled. She had practiced several times today and was ready to say 'We're over' and 'I'm leaving the team.' But she found herself tongue tided and couldn't get the words out.

"I found her." Scott replied putting the loaded gun into his holster on his side.

"What? Found who?"

"Roxanne. The doll was the key, "He proudly stated acknowledging his brilliance. "I had Bruce assistance, but I could track the doll from the manufacture right to the individual who purchased it. I mean she handed it off to somebody else, but I was able to trace her whereabouts to some old army base in Wyoming."

"Ok…why are you just telling me this?"

"Actually wasn't planning on telling anybody, but you kind of showed up unexpectedly." he sighed and honestly admitted, "I know you're angry with me. Otherwise you wouldn't have pulled that stunt you did earlier. I'm leaving tonight to save Roxy."

Her eyes nearly bulge out of her socket at the suggestion, "Save Roxy? Are…Are you out your mind?"

"I sort of expected that reaction."

"She doesn't want saving, Scott. I don't think she's given any clear indication of that."

"GI Joe is going to attack that base at 0:900, "He calmly explains, "I know this because I've been monitoring Falcon and Chuckles every actions and communications. They received word from headquarters this afternoon. MASK also received some bogus request to escort a shipment in California at 0:900."

"You don't know…"

"Yes I do Annie. I can show you all the evidence, but I'm wasting time. I need to know If you're with me or not. Because I'm leaving…" With that final word he walked past her and grabbed the duffle bag on the table.

He left the room and she was still standing there unhinged. _What just happened?_ She tried to reprocess the information in her head yet she was still unable to grasps it. One thing for sure was he was going on this mission with no back up. She could never live with herself if she let him do this alone. The last thing she'd ever want would be him returning home in a body bag. She instinctively rush out of the room and shouted, ""Scott, wait! Scott! Stop...wait! I'm coming!"

Annie ran down the hall at high speed having gone from confident to unsure to puzzle to panic in a matter of minutes. "SCOTT!"

Thunderhawk was already started when she caught up to him in the vehicle bay. She grabbed his arm just as he was about to climb in the driver's seat. "Stop, okay...just stop for a minute! I'm coming with you! Just...wait...! I can be ready in ten minutes."

"I can give you five. I know your extra gear is already in Phoenix's storage box."

"Scott, trying to hide my hair alone takes time...if I don't, someone's bound to notice the color, no matter how dark the lighting is."

He cut her off. "Bring the cap with you..we'll figure it out later...now go. Countdown's starting..."

Annie returned to the vehicle bay in the allotted time, wearing a form fitting black catsuit and running completely off of instinct and adrenaline. Thankfully this prevented her from thinking too hard about the extremely stupid course of action she and Scott were about to undertake. All she knew was that she couldn't talk him out of it and couldn't let him go alone. She finished looping her gun belt around her waist and kick started Phoenix at the same time, pulling her helmet on last.

"All right. Let's go," Scott said. "I'll lead."


	7. Chapter 7

MASK SAGA 4: REDEMPTION

Chapter 7

During their ten hour drive to their final destination in Wyoming, there was only radio silence. What could she say to get through to him? His mind was set on saving his sister. The few times she did asked mission specific questions the only response she got was 'We'll talk about it when we get there.' Whatever they were going to face Annie knew they were both ill prepared for it. She considered sending a message to her father, but any signs of betrayal on her part could cause Scott to take Thunderhawk into flight mode and leave her behind.

"At the base of the mountain there should be enough shrubs to cover both our vehicles." Scott reapplied over the radio as he took Thunderhawk off the main road to a secluded forest area. Annie followed in Phoenix and parked next to him. The moment Scott got out of Thunderhawk he pulled out a camouflage net and draped it over the top of Thunderhawk to hide the bright red color.

"I think were good," He glanced down at his watch, "Three hours to spare should be enough time to get in and out."

"Of where?"

Scott grabbed binoculars and handed them over to Annie. He then pointed in the direction of the mountain, "VENOM base is inside that mountain."

Annie observed there was nobody outside the base of the mountain, but there were tire tracks leading towards it. Upon further review she noticed the air vents blended into side the mountain. She grew up in the mountains and that was no ordinary mountain.

"I um…wanted to tell you I sent that evidence box back Tahoe…" Scott awkwardly interjected causing Annie to remove the binoculars and stare at him in disbelief. "Anonymously...like you asked. It won't be traced back to you." There was another awkward silence, as though he wanted to say more, "I just wanted to clear that up before we go in."

"Thank you…" was all that came off her lips still hanging there in shock, as she watch him doubled check his gear and not acknowledge her confusion. Annie brought the binoculars back up to get the lay of the land, "I would say the air vents our best chance to enter unnoticed. I only have climbing gear for one person…"

"That would take too long," He pulls an aerial map of the area from his jacket showing Annie he knew exactly what he was doing, "There is an evacuation hatch about 30 meters from here. We're gonna use that to get down into the belly of the beast. I brought some C4 to pry it open if we need to."

"Scott, that's just going to alert them to our presence, have you truly thought this through? I mean what are we going to do when we get inside?"

"Ye of little faith," Scott said shaking his head showing his disappointment in her, "I'm only using enough charge to blow the hinge not shake the ground. And I think it's rather obvious when we get inside we find Roxy." He continues to add before she can utter in another word, "I know there's 12 levels to go through somebody in there is going to disclose her location whether their willing to or not. We'll leave our masks behind and rely on our side arms to avoid detection."

"No masks? Seriously?"

"We have a better chance of blending in without them. Can't imagine there will be many people casually walking around at this hour unless doing patrol. Anybody monitoring video surveillance won't think twice with us wearing all black uniforms like everyone else."

"Alright," She said defeated with no choice but to go along with this crazy plan of his. "This is exactly why I should have dyed my hair." Annie grumbled as she braided her hair and then tried to stuff her hair under her cap.

"I actually think that look suits you better."

"You know I like my hair the way it is." She defensively stated.

"I'm just saying the cap covers your facial features and your hair from any onlookers. You're more recognizable then I am to the enemy, with all the one on one confrontations you've had in the past."

"Oh." She silently said wanting to take back her attempt to bite his head off.

"Let's get going. Times a wasting."

Scott and Annie managed to find the hidden evacuation hatch buried under years of brush. After setting off a small concentrated explosion to the hinges on the hatch, they headed down a long ladder leading deep underground.

"Maybe I should have said something on the surface," Annie asked looking down at Scott, as they both climbed down, "How exactly do you plan on convincing Roxy to come with us?"

"Figure I'd asked nicely before I use force."

Annie sighed quietly in frustration. _He has no plan and is just gonna wing it. Before he even opens his mouth she's gonna kill us both._ _What the hell was I thinking when I agreed to this?_

"Annie?"

"Yeah" She broke her train of thought and look down at Scott who was peering out the door to the third level corridor.

"Coast is clear."

"Roger that" She took a deep breath and push aside her conflicting thoughts on this mission the moment she set foot into the corridor. Right now all that that mattered was keeping them both alive until Scott came to his senses.

* * *

"Are you even sure anybody actually lives here?" Annie questioned. Both her and Scott walked three floors below ground and had yet to run into anybody.

"I confirmed his was an active base via satellite photos. Somebody got to be here."

"We've already lost an hour wandering around," She reminded.

"Then we start breaking doors down."

"I'm not cool with that idea…we don't know who were going to run into. You have any idea how many doors this base has?"

"I'm not giving up," Scott said determine, "Lets go down another floor."

"Fine," She said in a defeated tone as they headed down the corridor towards the stairs.

Neither of them noticed a woman walking up behind them smirking and crossing her arms, "Are you two lost."

Scott and Annie both froze in their tracks. They knew very well who that voice belong to. Annie nose wrinkled up. _Of all the people we had to run into down here._

Vanessa Warfield took their silence as proof she surprised them. She then turned around so her back was facing them, to avoid looking at them directly, "I need you to do something...quit standing around and follow me."

Annie and Scott glanced at each other wondering what they should do follow or run? Scott shrugged first and started to follow after Vanessa assuming she probably thinks their just contra world solders. Annie on the other hand was shaking her head trying to get Scott to do the opposite. It had to be trap, but what choice did she have. Scott was making all the decisions.

"Don't know what you idiots were thinking coming down here," Vanessa spoke up as she heard foot steps of both individuals now following her, "You've been told these floors are abandon there's no reason to patrol down here."

Annie balled her fist in reaction to Vanessa's words. Her own gut was telling her Vanessa was toying with them both, but she couldn't prove it, not yet.

"Apparently all the motion sensors and security cameras have turned off. Something big is about to go down and I need somebody to protect our fearless leader, while I organize a team in the garage. Since you two don't seem to be at your scheduled posts, you'll do"

Scott couldn't believe it. This was a blessing in disguise Vanessa was going to lead them directly to his sister. With this whole spiel about protecting her, Roxy will have no choice but to go with them no questions asked.

_She's leading us directly to Roxy!?_ _This can't be good._ Annie grew suspicious of her mother knowing all to well that everything she does has a motive. Her hand rested on her side arm, and she motioned to Scott to do the same. Scott shook his head and mouthed with out speaking words, "Let's keep following her."

A frustrated huff came from Annie lips. Vanessa chuckled softly knowing her daughter dislike of the situation, but she continue to pretend as if she was nothing more but one of her lackeys.

Vanessa led them down to the seventh floor below ground and towards a door with a key card lock. She swiped a card to unlock the door and started to walk away, "Get to your post…you start hearing gun fire over head…I suggest you evacuate the way you came in…You'll get no assistance on the way out."

Annie glared at Vanessa's back. The nerves she had not to look them in the eye and just string them along like that.

"You know your mom not as bad as you make her out to be," Scott spoke up as Vanessa was out of hear shot.

Her angry glare quickly shifted to Scott, "You have some nerves to say that in my presence. She abandoned me as baby, strings my father along like he some sort of lost puppy, and is a terrorist. All you can say is she not a bad person."

"She led us to Roxy didn't she? That's all the proof I need."

"Then you're just as naive as I am." Scott simply stared at Annie. "As much as we might like to think otherwise, Vanessa Warfield doesn't do anything that doesn't fit her agenda. Us getting Roxy out of here somehow benefits her...probably gets the competition out of the way. This could also still be a trap…who's to say Roxanne is in that room?"

"You're with me...which guarantees it's not a trap..." Scott smirked at the reverse in logic and pulled out his gun while Annie stared at him open mouthed, "Vanessa also doesn't knowingly put you in danger. So let's find out who is right.." With that remark he slowly opened the door. The room was pitch-black and he was unable to see anything. "Hit the lights," Scott whispered.

They both shuffled into the room with their guns ready. Annie flicked on a light switch, as she closed the door behind them. The moment the lights came on their guns shifted to the bed. Roxanne Trakker laid there asleep and covered in bed sheets. It was surprising to see that the sudden light in the room had not woken her up. Scott had always remembered her to be such a light sleeper.

"Roxanne…Wake up!" Scott shouted holding his gun firmly on his sister. Yet again her body showed no response.

"She could be playing us," Annie said thinking about all the ruthless tactics she had used in Africa.

"I'm going to move in closer. Maybe if I nudge her a bit she'll awake."

"I wouldn't advise that…"She then paused as she analyzed the scene a bit closer. The other side of the bed was disturbed, as if somebody had been sleeping next to Roxanne. Her intuition was telling her they were not alone. She turned around to see a man standing in the bathroom doorway with wet hair and wearing only a bath towel around his waist.

"You have got to be kidding me." Annie said lowing her gun and feeling as if the biggest joke had been played on her. "I should have seen this coming..."

Scott turned his attention away from his sister to see who Annie was looking at. Buddy Hawks an ex-MASK agent and Boulderhill's mechanic who resigned unexpectedly a few months ago was now working for Contra World. That wasn't the real reason, Scott could see that now as he did a double take between a sleeping Roxanne and a partially nude Buddy standing before him, "You are absolutely sick! You left us so you could get in bed with my sister…your nothing but a disgusting old man!"

"I'm not having this discussion with you Scott," Buddy said in a serious tone, "We're all adults in this room deal with it. I care a great deal about Roxanne and nothing you or anybody else says about it is going to change the way I feel."

"Honestly," Annie said feeling disgusted knowing that Buddy her long time friend was in love with her rival Roxanne Trakker, "I'm not surprise."

"You knew?" Scott flashed Annie a questionable look.

"Had suspicions after walking in on them last year."

Buddy walked past Scott to check on Roxanne to make sure she was still sleeping, "Your lucky she still asleep." He then turned his attention to Scott and Annie, "I told Matt I could help her. What the hell are you doing here?"

"My dad knew about this," Scott voice grew agitated, "After all that crap he told me about moving on and forgetting Roxy."

"He probably said that so wouldn't do something stupid like this," Annie butted in with her commentary. Annie couldn't help but think this whole situation just keeps getting worse by the minute.

"I'm so close to getting her to walk out here," Buddy admitted, "I can't have you two screwing this up."

"It doesn't matter," Scott pushed aside his anger," We got to move her. We have no more then an hour at this point until GI Joe brings this base down."

"What?! Nobody told me about that."

"I don't understand why that bothers you so much," Annie asked, "It would be for her own good to be locked up. Their not the bad guys."

"I'm supposed to sit back, wait, and see if my sister comes back to me in one piece by letting somebody else bring her in. You have any idea what they'll do to her? Your Gi Joe buddies thought it pretty funny not to include us in on this because we have a personal stake in this mission. Their going to kill her Annie whether it be here or in prison. I'll never get my sister back."

"He's got a point Red," Buddy agreed, "If she goes into the wrong hands she's lost to us forever."

"Apparently I'm unfazed by the Roxy pixie dust in the room. The Joes are not going to kill her. If anything they'll want to help her."

"She is not well Annie," Buddy said, "The moment she picks up gun and kills a Joe…do you think they'll want to help her? Their military and I know their type. They'll make sure she suffers for the rest of her life or put her out of her misery."

"I've met their team medic! Lifeline is a pacifist...and a genuine, dedicated healer! If something is truly wrong with Roxy, he wouldn't let that happen!"

A phone sitting on a bedside table flashes. Buddy grabs it and looked at the text message. _Time to part ways…Jon on his way. V._

"We don't have time to argue about this! Hit the lights and hide. Jon coming."

Buddy quickly made up the other side of the bed and grabbed his clothes off the floor, before returning to the bathroom to hide. Annie hit the lights and got into the closet with Scott. A few minute later the door went violently flying open and lights popped back on. Jon Mayhem stomped into the room, "GET UP!"

Roxanne's eyes open alert upon hearing his voice, "Jon?"

"WHERE ARE THEY!"

She sat up in bed looking at him confused, "What are you talking about?"

"I have no time for your games. We are on the verge of being attack on all fronts. Where are the VENOM assault vehicles!?"

"The garage."

Jon raised his hand and slapped it across Roxanne face. Blood stated to poor down the corner of her mouth.

Scott felt every muscle in his body tense up. They were able to see everything that was happening through the slits in the closet. Before him was the man who ruin his sister life and now he was just sitting here watching her being abused. Annie gripped Scott arm trying to indicate he should let it play out. It was far too dangerous to be exposed.

"You signed the orders to have Switchblade, Piranha, Outlaw all of the assault vehicles moved offsite."

"No…No I…I didn't" Roxanne said in a half confused and scared voice.

Jon got into the bed next to her and grabbed her hair tightly pulling her head back. "You better think very carefully where you put them. Otherwise I'll use other methods to get it out of you."

Before Roxanne could utter anything. Scott Trakker burst out of the closet with his gun pointed directly on Jon Mayhem, "LET HER GO!"

Jon let go of Roxanne hair, "Well it look like we have an uninvited guest. Anything else you want confess to Roxy?"

"I didn't know anything about this." Roxanne pleaded.

"Put your hands up and move away from her," Scott ordered.

Annie chose to remain hidden in the closet. She knew Scott focus would be on Jon so she chose to watch Roxanne closely. It appeared her hand seemed to of grabbed something from Jon's back. _Not good._ She readied her gun and waited for her queue.

Jon put his hands up and scooted away from Roxanne on the bed and smiled, "What do you think you're going to accomplish by breaking in here Scott?"

"I'm going to get Roxy out of here and away from the likes of you."

"You hear that honey…he's come to save you."

Roxanne smiled and pulled out Jon's gun and pointed it directly at Scott, "Funny I don't remember asking to be saved. Are you sure you know how to use that baby brother? I've shot you once...and you know I have no issues with shooting you twice."

"Put the gun down bitch," Annie said exiting the closet and holding her gun directly on Roxanne.

"Did you really have to bring her along?" Roxanne huffed.

"You won't shoot me," Scott said with faith.

"Your whore doesn't think so."

"You've tried to kill us both before... Now enough of the crap!" Annie ordered authoritatively, "Put your gun down your out numbered."

Buddy Hawks continue to remain hidden behind the bathroom door and was now fully dressed. He no idea what was going on and he had no weapon to join in. All he knew is everyone but Jon had a gun pointed at someone and it would only take the littlest thing to set off a chain reaction.

"Roxy we don't have time for this," Jon Mayhem stated, "Kill him we have more pressing matters to deal with."

Roxanne readied her gun on Scott, but her hand started to waiver. The image of shooting him so long ago resurfaced in her mind. She felt overwhelmed with guilt of promising never to hurt him again.

"I SAID SHOOT!" Jon Mayhem leaned over and shouted in Roxanne ear.

The next sound Buddy Hawks heard, behind the bathroom door, was three gun shots.

Scott Trakker fired the first shot into Jon Mayhem gut. He was bleeding and knocked out unconscious on the bed. The second shot came from Annie and hit Roxanne in the leg. The third shoot came from Roxanne's gun. She dropped it on the ground the moment the bullet entered her body and shot the wall next to Scott.

Annie quickly moved in and kicked the gun across the room out of her reach.

Roxanne looked over at Jon and felt herself shaking in shock, "JON! JON! ANSWER ME!" Looking him over made her realize he had to be dead. The shot itself was lethal. She glared murderously at Annie and Scott, "I CAN'T BELIVE THAT YOU DID THAT!" Roxanne got out of bed wearing a black tank top and underwear. Blood was flowing down her upper left leg where the bullet was lodge in her. She limped over to Annie, "I can't wait to snap you neck."

"Stay where you are!" Annie threaten taking a few steps back, "I'll shoot you again if I have to"

"Roxanne…don't do this." Scott pleaded with gun also aimed on her.

"I have to do this…you've ruin me and I will make you suffer!"

Annie could see Buddy peering out of the bathroom door, "Keep moving back, Scott." When their backs hit the wall, Buddy Hawks exited the bathroom. He grabbed Roxanne from behind and forced her to the ground.

"You're in on this too!" Roxanne screamed.

"Help me hold her down. She's a lot stronger then she looks." Buddy ordered Scott as he struggled to keep her in check. Both men pinned Roxanne to the floor.

"I'm going to avenge your death…I'll kill you all!" She screamed and used every muscle in her body to fight back.

"In my pocket there is syringe…it's the only thing I have to calm her down." Buddy said to Annie.

Annie grabbed the syringe and then injected directly into Roxanne's neck.

"Roxy…come on sweetheart I know you're in there." Buddy said still holding his grip tight on her. Roxanne eyes rolled to the back of her head and her body became limped.

"What exactly did you give her?" Scott asked letting go of his grip on his sister

"It's medicine that Julio passed off to me. It helps her mind." Buddy ran his hand over face.

"Uhhhh….." Roxanne blinked her eyes slowly, "It…hurts…Buddy."

"I know hun…look who here."

"Scott?" Roxanne spoke out in a confused voice.

"Yeah I'm here sis." He moved in closer and grabbed her hand.

Tears flowed down Roxanne face as she sobbed, "I'm so sorry….I never wanted any of this to happen."

"I know," Scott replied smiling at her, "Were here to take you home."

"I miss home…." Her heavily dazed eyes shifted to the red head standing at the end of her feet. "Vanessa?"

"You got the wrong red head," Annie said checking her gun.

Roxanne gripped on to Buddy in a panic, "Don't let her kill me! GET HER AWAY FROM ME!

"What…are you serious?" Annie said mocking her.

"Put the gun away Annie your scaring her," Scott ordered.

Annie felt her temper beginning to rise again. Once again, it was the poor Roxy routine. "Am I?" Annie made a show out of checking the gun over one last time before she put it in her hilt.

Roxanne closed her eyes tightly as she felt a streak of pain erupting from her bleeding leg. Even with her eyes closed she could see Annie standing over her ready to past judgment. She started mumbling, "I don't deserve your mercy….uhhhh make the pain stop…It all hurt so much."

"Stop talking like that," Buddy insisted, as he looked over Roxanne's leg wound. The bullet was buried deep in her leg and the bleeding was not stopping. "She's bleeding pretty bad. Did you have to shoot her?"

"Oh my..." Annie rolled her eyes and summoned what little patience she was carrying. "If I hadn't...Scott would be dead."

"She missed." Scott reminded

"She missed you only because I changed her gun trajectory." Annie threw back into his face.

"Enough what's done is done," Buddy said breaking up the bickering as started to wrap Roxanne leg with gauze and bandages

"Is she going to be well enough to escape?" Scott asked noticing that Roxanne was drifting in and out of consciousness and mumbling incoherently.

"She can't walk…when the medication kicks in she'll be out like a light for a couple of hours. I'll carry her to Thunderhawk," Buddy insisted as he grabbed a sheet off the bed to wrap her up in.

_Deadweight just great!_ S_o much for quick exit_. Annie thought.

The room grew silent as they heard the sounds of laser and gun fire over head. Scott looked down at his watch, "What the hell we have at least half and hour to high tail it out of here. How can our time be up?"

"I guess your sources aren't as good as thought," Annie quipped.

"Doesn't matter either way we have to get through that," Buddy reminded as he picked up a sleeping Roxanne in his arms. "Lead the way out of this hell hole."

Buddy could see Annie's mind racing by the look on her face.

"Scott, whether that is or isn't G.I. Joe out there, you have faulty intelligence," She stated factually. "Which means we don't know what we're going to be up against. I should take point."

Scott checked his pistol and shot her a look before stating firmly, "I led us in here, I can lead us out. Buddy, follow me. Stay close. Annie, watch our backs."

Scott opened the door and took off without another word while Buddy quickly followed.

Annie readied her pistol and followed behind, muttering "Yes Sir."


	8. Chapter 8

MASK SAGA 4: REDEMPTION

Chapter 8

If Contraworld didn't end up killing Buddy Hawkes, the looks he could feel drilling into his back probably would. He adjusted Roxanne to a more comfortable position in his arms and turned sideways to confront Annie.

"Mind telling me why you're shooting daggers straight through me?"

"I'm trying to keep us alive. I don't have the time or the inclination to explain it to you."

"Maybe you should stop wasting your time trying to judge me, then. And don't pretend you're surprised," Buddy added, "You're an open book to anyone who knows how to read you."

Annie's reply was pure Vanessa. "Might want to get a new copy. Your chapter is closed."

Before Buddy could respond, Annie tensed up and took off ahead of him, toward Scott and the 5th level entrance door. Clearly something had caught her attention and she wanted to get Scott's. Buddy thought he could almost hear the sound of metal clanging as he approached the entryway.

"Wait a minute!" Annie hissed quietly at Scott, "I think I hear something..."

Too late. Scott stepped through the door and let out a yelp of surprise, emptying his pistol's ammo clip before leaping back into the 6th level hall and slamming the door closed.

"What the heck are those walking metal...THINGS?!" Scott exclaimed, glancing at Annie while he quickly reloaded his pistol.

Annie carefully approached the other side of the doorway and looked out the middle glass pane, eyes widening in shock when she saw the black armor, yellow belts, and red face plates. She turned back to Scott and Buddy, wincing visibly.

"Those...are COBRA BATs. Battle Android Troopers. Robotic soldiers that COBRA uses as cannon fodder because they are ruthless and unquestioningly loyal. Not only are they headed straight for us, but as you just found out, conventional weapons don't work well against them."

"COBRA! That explains a few things. But I thought they were working with Contraworld..."

"It was probably only a matter of time before the vipers decided to start biting each other."

Scott swallowed hard and admitted to Annie, "I'm beginning to appreciate that visit you made to the Pit right about now."

Buddy's jaw dropped as he looked at Annie, "What were you doing at G.I. Joe headquarters?"

She ignored the question. "Scott, I know what we're up against here. This would be a really good time to let me lead. I can get us past them if you trust me. The longer we wait, the closer they get and the harder it will be."

Buddy's eyes flickered between the two MASK leaders, wondering what the hell had transpired to cause such tension between the two of them.

Something flickered in Scott's eyes before he nodded assent. "Tell me what to do."

"The only thing that will cut them down is their own weapons. We're going to have to lob a grenade to take out the lead bots, steal their guns, and shoot the rest." Annie glanced out the window pane to see the BATs halfway toward the door hiding them. "Right about now would be ideal."

"Sure, no sweat, in my sleep," Scott chirped sarcastically as he pulled a grenade out of his jacket pocket. He balked when Annie tried to take it from him. "Uh...no. You've got the faster reaction time. I'll throw the grenade...you steal the guns. On three..."

Annie nodded while Scott pulled the grenade pin and pushed the door open, rolling the live bomb toward the unsuspecting robotic troopers. He began counting almost immediately.

"One..." Pause. "Two..." Pause.

Annie never heard three in the sound of the explosion. She slammed the door open and catapulted toward the BATs at the same time the three BATs in the lead exploded everywhere leaving a cloud of smoke. Annie sprinted towards the remains to salvage two rifles.

"Scott!"

She yelled for him as she backed up and knelt along the right hand wall, tossing a rifle to him as he positioned himself to the left. Blue laser fire erupted into the hallway as they began firing on the confused robots, whose targeting scanners were going haywire in the smokescreen. Annie did the quick math in her head. Three BAT most likely were destroyed by the grenade blast left three more to disassemble. She noticed a robotic head poking through the smoke and raised her laser rifle. Before she could fire a blue laser sliced right through the robots neck causing the head to roll at her feet. Her eyes drifted across from her in disbelief and mouth the words 'how?'. Scott Trakker had managed to shoot the head off that BAT with such accurate precision.

"Annie why are you not firing back over there?" Scott smirked knowing his take down of that BAT rattled Annie's nerves a bit.

"Oh, I didn't realize it was a competition," Annie said as she lazily aimed and cut the legs out from under one of the BATs, causing it to topple to the ground like a helpless baby.

Scott gave her a mildly amused laugh at her response, "When is it not?" Fires away shooting an arm off the other BAT.

"Well if that's the case...why am I holding back?!"

She smirked at him and in one quick firing motion sliced the other arm off the last BAT standing, cut off its legs, and fired into the vulnerable circuitry of its chest. The BAT fell over into a pile of scrapped metal. Annie then pulled her long knife out of its boot sheath, spun it with a flourish and stabbed the legless BAT through the chest, cutting the wires vital to keeping the robot active. The backlighting on its red faceplate died as did the last of their attackers.

She turned back to Scott with a triumphant grin and sheathed the knife. "Two to one."

Buddy Hawkes waited until the laser fire died completely before entering the hallway. He shot a dark and skunk eyed look at his two proteges, clearly not amused. "You two done playing around? 'cause who ever controlling those thing can't be far off."

An evil chuckle echoed throughout the level. "You don't say..."

The hairs on the back of Annie's neck stood up as she glanced behind them and then ahead for the owner of the voice with her rifle at the ready position. Scott motioned Buddy closer to him, eyes darting about as he clutched his rifle tightly.

"Look at this Motley Crew," the voice continued to taunt, "An injured Queen Bee, two worthless drones, and Warfield's little girl playing lone ranger."

"Leave her alone and show yourself coward!" Scott spat into the air defiantly.

"Quiet Drone!" commanded the voice darkly. "You're expendable once I get the price off your head. So is he."

"You ain't getting anybody head you damn merc," Buddy replied gripping Roxanne tighter in his arms

Annie could almost sense the mercenary's position as she sidestepped along the right wall. So close... She added her own bait to the conversation, "Especially if we find you first."

"You're getting warmer..."

Annie took another half step and instinctively turned, kicking out at the wall and finding it kicking back. A foot swiftly hooked one of her ankles, causing her to lose her balance and drop her rifle. She fell easily into the invisible arms that put her in a sudden headlock before tossing her on the ground like a rag doll.

"Annie!" Scott yelled.

A human shaped piece of wall stepped out into the hallway, revealing an armored figure with two black tattoos covering both of his eyes and cheeks. "Your mother always liked that move."

Annie quickly rolled onto her stomach, reaching for her discarded rifle as the man crushed her hand with his boot. She cried out in pain as the man calmly added, "Into the S&M she was...until that rocker showed up!"

Annie gritted her teeth, "That rocker is my father you mercenary bastard!"

"Zartan, let her go!" Buddy ordered.

Scott aimed his laser directly at Zartan's head. "Let her up or I swear I'll kill you."

Zartan calmly picked up Annie's discarded rifle and casually pointed it back at Scott. "How about I just kill you instead? I only need your head for my bounty after all. Can you cut me down before that, little drone?"

Buddy continued holding Roxanne tightly as his eyes drifted down to Annie lying on the floor with her right hand pinned under Zartan's boot. She glanced back up at him expectantly, fingering one of the scabbards on the back of her belt with her free hand. Buddy knew from the look in her eyes he needed to keep Zartan talking.

"You've got this all wrong, Zartan. Your mission might be to bring Roxanne in, but COBRA and Contraworld are going to cut you out of the deal once it's done. With us alive, you not only have access to MASK technology, but two substantial fortunes."

"What the hell, Buddy?!" Scott interrupted, "First you sell out to Contraworld, now you're trying to sell us out?"

"I'm trying to keep us all alive. I would say your legacy is worth that much."

"Last time I checked I was in charge here...I'll decide what's worth what."

Zartan held his rifle steady and chuckled in amusement. "And what if I decide to take both your heads while you continue this pathetic argument?"

"I have a better idea." Scott turned and leveled his rifle on Buddy's chest. "I'll let you have the bounty on his head because he tried to sell us out. Let the girls go and I'll throw in MASK and my fortune."

Buddy looked slightly unnerved, "Scott...what are you doing?"

"Me?" Scott asked innocently, "I've just been biding my time..."

Annie took her cue and buried the knife she'd pulled from her belt into the side of Zartan's foot.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" He screamed in pain, hopping up and down, freeing Annie in the process, "BITCH!"

"NEVER underestimate a redhead!" Annie shouted, leaping up and delivering a hard kick to Zartan's chest before taking off down the hall behind Buddy and Scott.

"You almost had me going for a minute," Buddy quipped to Scott as they ran down the hall.

Scott shot back a look that said he'd considered it but was unable to comment further with Annie's voice driving them from behind.

"Get going!"

"How much farther, Scott?" Buddy asked.

"Almost there...third level entry is just ahead."

Buddy risked a glance over his shoulder to find Annie just a few paces behind. "No sign of..."

"UNNhhhhhhh!"

Buddy turned back at Scott's surprised gasp of pain only to find the MASK leader catapulted across the room by an unseen force. Buddy's head looked left and right trying to figure out what direction the threat was coming from. Before he could react a dart charged with electricity nailed him in the back. He drop Roxy hard to the ground and fell over shaking helplessly like a fish out of water.

"Two down, one to go. What's a Lone Ranger to do?"

Annie stopped dead in her tracks, every inch of her being screaming red alert. She could not pinpoint Zartan's location and knew her only choice was to try to bait him out.

"Come out here and I'll show you, you coward!" After a pause, she added, "What's the matter, afraid of Vanessa's little girl?"

Something twisted into Annie's hair before she could react, pulling her into a tight grip with a knife at her throat. "On the contrary, you should be afraid of me."

Helpless in Zartan's iron grip, Annie eyed the ground where Buddy and Scott both lay. Neither of them looked responsive. She started to panic, afraid that none of them were going to get out of here.

"Scott..."

Scott roused himself, shaking his head to clear the ringing in his ears, unsure if he heard his name or not.

"Scott...do something!"

He opened his eyes to Annie's panicked voice and the sight of her caught tightly in an invisible grip, a knife at her throat drawing blood. He saw Buddy and Roxanne lying on the ground beside him, mentally surveyed his options, and came to a quick decision. He lifted a grenade from his armor jacket and pulled the pin.

"Annie...remember the vehicle we shared our first kiss in?" Her nod was nearly imperceptible. "Get ready..."

Annie closed her eyes as she heard the sound of the grenade rolling along the ground, letting her mind drift back to the first kiss she and Scott shared in the back of Firecracker.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Zartan screamed in agony as the flash grenade exploded in front of them. He dropped Annie like a hot potato and curled up into a ball of blue tinged skin, cowering in the corner. "I HATE THE LIGHT!"

"I've got another one where that came from if you don't stay put," Scott threatened the mercenary leader. Scott then stood up and helped Annie to her feet, resting his arm lightly around her waist. "You okay?"

She nodded, looking back at the now blubbering blue colored Zartan. "How'd you know to do that?"

Scott shrugged. "I didn't. Chameleon stealth doesn't function with bright light. Just seemed logical that the same would apply to Zartan."

The sound of voices from down the hall caught their attention.

"Flint, did you hear that?" asked a female voice.

"Yeah, sounded like Zartan...and he's not alone. C'mon Lady Jaye."

"Shit!" Annie muttered under her breath. "Flint and Jaye are the advance scouting party...we can't let them catch us here!"

She motioned for Scott to take Roxanne and head for the third level door as she roused Buddy, whispering, "G.I. Joe is here..."

Flint's voice echoed several paces closer. "I don't like this. It's gotten too quiet..."

Buddy shook himself into awareness and shoved Annie gently toward the exit door that Scott had managed to soundlessly open, even with Roxanne slung over one shoulder. He held it open with one foot, waiting while Annie quickly ducked inside. Zartan revived at nearly the same time Buddy reached the door.

"Hurry up you G.I. Joe fools, they're getting away!"

Scott quickly reacted and tossed the second flash grenade to cover their escape, quickly slamming the door as the three of them headed up the ladder.

* * *

The sound of intense laser firing and explosions could be heard as they climb to the surface level using an evacuation hatch. Annie open the hatch door and peered through. There was clearly a light show going on between Gi Joe, Cobra, and Contra World in the distance. She could only hope none of them would notice their presence and would be too preoccupied with one another. When they infiltrated the base they had the cover of night, now it was broad daylight with very little brush to cover their escape. Annie looked tenderly down at Scott who was holding his sister over his shoulder during the whole climb. Exhaustion was dress all over his face yet he was determine to reach his goal of saving his sister.

"How's it looking," Buddy asked bring up the rear.

"It's a shit storm out there and we have no cover. Hopefully they're all too preoccupied to notice us, but we need to make a break for Thunderhawk. It's parked under a good amount of brush to cover us."

"It's not that far away," Scott huffed slightly out of breath.

"I can take her off your hands" Buddy asked.

"I got her" Scott insisted, "Annie your lead."

"Lovely," Annie grumbled under her lip.

The hatch door flew open and Annie turner popped out with her gun ready and eyes surveying their surroundings. Scott Trakker slowly pulled himself up with Roxanne still over his shoulder. "Shouldn't you be running."

"Somebody got to give you cover wise guy."

Once Scott had exited the hatch along with Buddy, they sprinted over towards Thunderhawk. Thankfully nobody had notice their escape, but they weren't out of hot water yet. Annie glanced in the direction of the battlefield going on in the distance. She could see a whole massive army of BATs storming the mountain base. Contraworld had men station at the entryway trying to fight back, and GI Joe was bring up the rear fighting both Cobra and Contra World at the same time. "How the heck are we suppose to get past all that?"

Scott set Roxanne on the ground next to Thunderhawk, "We'll we are going the opposite way."

"That's not what I meant Scott they'll surely see us as we leave."

"At this point..I'll chance it" Scott replied, "Unless you see a better option."

"Maybe I will. Some of us don't want to spend the rest of our days behind bars." Annie huffed crossing her arms.

Scott gave Annie a crooked smile knowing she'd find the solution, then looked back over to his sister who was looking just as beat up as the rest of them, "I can't believe she slept through all that."

"The drugs have some pretty strong sedatives," Buddy replied looking Roxanne over and checking her leg, which was still bandage but soaked through with blood., "it will be quite awhile before she wakes up that is unless the right trigger is there to snap her out of it."

"Trigger?" Scott asked.

"You saw how she popped her eyes open the moment Jon Mayhem open his mouth...She's terified of him." Buddy ran his hand through Roxanne hair and kissed her on the forehead, "I need to take care of some unfinished business here. I'll help you situate her in the back of Thunderhawk and then I'll be off."

"Are you nuts! It's a war zone out there!" Annie spoke up.

"I have to go back to make it look like Roxanne escaped. That means grabbing her mask and taking Chameleon out of the it won't look like she defected like Vanessa." Buddy explained.

"Why does that matter?" Annie asked, "You risking life on a theory."

"It matters because then they won't come looking for Roxy at Boulderhill," Scott replied understanding Buddy point of view.

"I still think that's pretty stupid reason to go back in there, but," Annie sigh knowing that Buddy never backs down from what he says he gonna do. "At least take some protection," She handed Buddy her gun.

"Thanks Red." Buddy replied with a smile.

Buddy helped Scott lay Roxanne out in the back of Thunderhawk, then did one last check on the gun Annie gave him. "Alright I'm off."

"Good luck in there Buddy," Scott said as he reached out to shake his hand. He still felt a bit sour over the man dating his sister, but respected him a great deal for putting his life on the line for her.

"Thanks. Same to you both as well," Buddy replied returning the firm hand shake.

Annie and Scott watched as Buddy headed back over to the hatch and headed back down into the dragon's den. Once he was gone from their sight, Annie added knowing what she was about to say would be controversal, "You know after his remark about triggers. I can't help but think we should tie Roxanne up."

"Out of the question."

"Come on Scott you saw how she was down there. She was ready to kill us both with her bare hands." She argued.

"And she was scared and crying her eyes out. Jon is nowhere in sight alright? Your worrying about nothing."

"Don't say I didn't warn you."

"Now what is our best means of escaping without being notice?"

"Aside from having Hocus Pocus to generate holograms...?"

"Aside from that, yes."

"Then we take our chances like you said," Annie replied grimly. "And I'll just have to distract anyone who notices us."

"No way," Scott stated emphatically. "If anybody catches you..."

"You wanted options, Scott. And as much as we don't want to admit it, you and I both know that I have a pretty good chance of playing any or all three sides of this little conflict..."

Scott grimaced and tried another angle. "How do you plan to pull off any kind of distraction? Phoenix doesn't have any firepower."

Annie walked over to where her bike was parked and folded her arms across her chest. "Really?"

Scott remembered the painful sight of Annie kissing Cross Country and walking away arm in arm with him. "Even if Cross Country did make changes, it's not enough. I'm not letting you..."

"You don't have a choice," Annie interrupted, summing up the situation succinctly. "We both know you have a lot more to lose if you get noticed or caught. This is too important to screw up now."

"You're impor-"

Three motorcycles approached their hiding place with beefed up engines cutting off whatever Scott had to say.

"Look 'ere boys...it's Zartan's lost treasure..." A man with a long blond ponytail spoke up, waving a chainsaw in one hand.

"Oy, Buzzer, I didn't know it was Christmas already," said a red haired man brandishing a modified blowtorch.

The third dark haired rider chuckled darkly with his machete blade in hand, "Let's open up our presents!"

Annie vaulted onto the back of Phoenix, pulling on her mask and starting her bike while she snapped at Scott, "Get in that car, take off, and do not look back! GO!"

Scott complied, turning Thunderhawk in the direction of home. He paused long enough to see a gatling gun spring up out of Phoenix's front headlight. As Annie showered the approaching bikers with a never ending stream of bullets, Scott made his getaway.

"Dreadnoks! I want those girls alive!" Zartan screamed over the radio.

"Oy Zartan, how we supposed to do that when one of 'em's shootin' at us!" Ripper complained as he zigzagged through the barrage beside Buzzer.

"I don't care how!" Zartan snapped back, "Bring them back or we don't get paid!"

Torch caught up and fired up his blowtorch. "I'll turn the heat up on her. You boys stop that car."

"Tease them a little Scott," Annie radioed to Thunderhawk, "let them think they're getting close to you..."

Scott glanced out his side mirrors and slowed down enough to decrease the gap between Thunderhawk and the two lead bikes. He then took a quick glance in the rearview mirror to find Roxanne motionless, as if she was dead to the world.

"How long do you want me to keep this up?"

"You'll know..."

"That's comforting," he snorted under his breath.

Scott led the way in Thunderhawk with Ripper and Buzzer right behind, unable to get close enough to slice the car's tires. Annie pulled a U-Turn and rode up hard behind them with Torch bringing up the rear, futilely trying to flambe her to a toasty brown. She pressed a button and Phoenix's handlebars extended, ends opening up to reveal spiked bolas on each side.

"Scott, get ready!" She pressed the button again and the bolas launched, spinning directly for Ripper and Buzzer's back tires. "Now! Take off!"

Thunderhawk's thrusters engaged, shooting the car into the air at the same time the bolas reached their targets. The back tires shredded to pieces, sending both Dreadnoks crashing to the ground.

"Zartan, you didn't tell us the bloody car could fly!" Buzzer complained over his tilted radio.

"Or that the bloody bike is fireproof!" Torch added as the flames from his blowtorch rippled harmlessly around Phoenix.

"Time to turn up the heat and finish this..." Annie muttered to herself.

She weaved past the two fallen bikes and found a straightaway where she could pick up speed. Torch followed closely behind, still hoping for a last minute chance to catch their bounty.

"Come on, closer...closer..."

Annie waited until he was almost tire to tire with her before she hit another button on Phoenix's console, activating the new Turbo Boost Cross Country installed. Flames shot out of Phoenix's afterburners as Annie disappeared in a ball of flame that left Torch screaming in her wake.


	9. Chapter 9

MASK SAGA 4: REDEMPTION

Chapter 9

Thunderhawk and Phoenix were now ten miles south from the massive battlefield that surrounded Contra World's mountainside base. Annie's message to the Dreadnoks was good enough for them to stop their pursuit and ensure them a straight shot home.

The two had exchange quick gestures of 'Everything ok?' Yet after a simple 'Yes' it was back to radio silence. Thunderhawk was flying high above the clouds and Phoenix was speeding down the highway, both headed to their final destination Matt Trakker's mansion.

Scott found himself hesitating to reach out to Annie over the radio. He wanted to say 'We still make a great team together' or 'You were amazing out there' but is it too late? Their relationship had been rocky for months ever since Roxanne started to working for Contra World. Scott eyed his sister resting peacefully in the back of Thunderhawk and sighted heavily, "You might get what you always wanted splitting us up." He knew not to expect a reply back, but his attention drifted to the radio as it started to crackle.

"Scott you there?" An uncertain voice came over the radio.

"Yeah Hi-Tech," Scott replied, "I read ya."

"About time. I've been trying to reach you for hours."

"Sorry about that," Scott said with a sincere tone, "I've been using a private frequency."

"Falcon been screaming at me the last four hours to know where the hell you're at." He reapplied agitated, "You know your suppose to rendezvous with them at the shipping yard in San Francisco to escort a shipment of precious metals."

"Ohhh yeah," Scott replied as if he was trying to recollect the briefing from the other day, "I must have forgotten about that. Well I haven't been much of a leader lately with all my slacking about. You can tell Falcon he's a big boy he can handle this one on his own."

"What! I'm not gonna tell him that!" Hi-Tech replied as if repeating that word for word to Falcon would cost him his life, "Where is your location Scott I can't get a lock on you. What if VENOM hits them at any moment?"

"Not my problem" Scott replied smiling, as he changed the radio frequency from Boulderhill to the mansion's MASK computer.

"This is Scott Trakker reaching out to Matt Trakker over."

"SCOTT! What is going on! I have GI JOE command tell me you've gone AWOL." Matt Trakker responded with a great deal of rage.

"Is this line secure?" Scott simply asked.

"Yes."

"I have her dad," Scott calmly replied. "We rescued Roxanne this morning."

There was silence on the line, as if Matt had to sit down and couldn't believe what he was hearing, "Is she…"

"She's sleeping right now, but in badly need of medical assistance."

"I'll get a hold of Julio," Matt replied still stun for words.

"What ever you do..do not let the Joes find out." Scott replied with a bit a fury still angry over his father keeping information from him. "They were intending to pick her up this morning without our knowledge. We almost lost her for good."

"I..I won't. Just bring her home."

Those words 'bring her home' echo in Roxanne's mind. Her eyes flickered open in a panic. Home was the last place she wanted to go. How could she be forgiven for her crimes? The only logical solution was for them to throw her away in some padded cell to be forgotten. Her breathing hastens as she though of the last time she had spent a few days in a mental ward, as a courtesy of Jon Mayhem.

Scott could hear Roxanne breathing heavily through her mouth. He turned his head to look at her, "Your awak.." Before Scott could finish what he was going to say, Roxanne moved behind him and wrapped her arm around the seat and over his neck.

"LAND!"

"Rox..your..choking me," Scott could barely spit out.

"Put this car on the ground or we both die," She threatened.

"After all this did I make the right decision?" Annie Turner said speaking to herself as she drove Phoenix down the highway a fair distance behind Thunderhawk. "No doubt about it Scott and Buddy would have bitten off more then they could chew if I hadn't been there, but not turning Roxy over to the Joes. It all just makes my head hurt just thinking about it. "

She would periodically glance up at Thunderhawk to ensure it was still her line of sight, but suddenly grew alarmed as she saw the vehicle swerving in the air and losing altitude. She turned her radio on, "Scott everything ok up there?"

The silence on the line led her to the only conclusion she could come up with. "I warned him about tying her up" Annie turned Phoneix off the main road and headed towards the direction of Thunderhawk.

The moment Thunderhawk came into view she could see Roxanne Trakker pulling an unconscious Scott Trakker out of the driver seat. The first though that entered her mine was 'Did she kill him?' She could tell Roxanne was not paying any attention to her bike as she was more focus on dragging Scott's body a few feet away from the car.

Annie hopped off her bike as it was still in motion and let it crash to the ground. The anger she felt was so strong that she wanted to pull the dagger out of her boot and end this here and now. She forcefully grabbed Roxanne by the arm and spun her around to face her. The last thing Roxanne saw was Annie fist colliding with her face. Roxanne fell over backwards and was out cold next to Scott side.

"Scott!" She replied alarmed, but calmed herself down as she noticed his rising chest meant he was still breathing," Oh thank god!" She knelt down and lightly slapped Scott's cheek, "Come on Scott time to wake up." After two or three good slaps to the face Scott open his eyes and started coughing.

"Rox…*coughs* where she go?"

"Not very far," Annie motion her head to left of him. Scott turned his head to see Roxanne unconscious with a big puffed up bruise around her eye. "I will say I did warn you in advance." She lightly rubbed in.

Scott smiled softly and snickered, "Yeah you did. So how did it feel?"

"What?"

"Finally giving her a shiner to the face?"

"Well at the time I wasn't thinking about it…I just reacted. But now that you mention it was a long over due. Actually felt kind of good."

"I thought so," Scott replied indicating he was actually ok with it, "Let tie her up and get home before she wakes up again."

* * *

The sound of two vehicles heading down the driveway prompted Matt Trakker and Julio Lopez to rush outside the front door. A woman with Hispanic features, long black hair, and wearing medical scrubs joined them, "Julio the room upstairs is ready for our patient. I still think we'd be better equip to handle this at the hospital."

"I know Carmen," Julio gripped his wife hand, "but the situation calls for discretion."

Thunderhawk and Phoneix drove up to the mansion's front door. Matt Trakker couldn't believe what he was seeing. _Annie went on this rescue mission?_ When Scott said 'we' over the radio he automatically assumed that meant Scott and Buddy, but he never image Annie would ever agree to partake. If Annie was here, what happen to Buddy?

Scott exited Thunderhawk and motioned for the three to approach, "She's resting in the back. She kind of had some sort of episode mid-flight so we umm…" he said with a hint of disappointment, "had to tie her up."

Julio nodded understandingly as if he expected it and gently pushed Scott aside so he could examine his patient before moving her.

"What happen to Buddy?" Matt demanded.

"He stayed behind to cover our tracks," Annie stated pulling off her helmet.

"I see." Matt replied.

"Yeah well..," Scott said raising his voice, "Dad I can't believe you kept that little bit of information from us. This whole time you knew Buddy was with Roxy."

"That is true," he said not regretting his decision, "Buddy approached me with the idea and Julio has been involved in this from the start. You have to understand this was a long shot. Buddy was risking his life on a chance that she might remember her feelings for him. The last report I got was that he was making progress and finally breaking down those walls that Jon Mayhem built up in her mind."

"You should have told me or hinted something," Scott threw back, "How do you expect me to be a leader when you're trying to run the show behind my back?"

"Your right I shouldn't have kept this from you."

"Damn right you shouldn't of. Had we've been an hour late she'd be in a middle of a war zone fighting for her life between Contra World, Cobra, and Gi Joe." Scott continued on letting his anger out.

Annie casually stood back watching father and son go at it in a heated debate. She knew she could put in her two cents, but this was not her battle to win.

Julio ignored the conversation all together and turned his attention to Roxanne resting peacefully in the backseat of Thunderhawk. Her arms and legs were tied up with a plastic brace and the sheet covering her body was soiled in dirt and blood. Roxanne face was pale and sporting a black eye, which indicated to him they probably used an unconventional method to knock her out. He reached for her wrist to check her vitals and glance at his watch.

"Scott?" Julio asked with concern putting a stop to the argument between Matt and Scott, "How long ago did she get shot?"

"Well at this point ten hours ago. We notice she was bleeding pretty badly and manage to put a fresh bandage using a first aid kit, once we were out of danger."

"Her heart rate is dangerously low. She needs a blood transfusion now, before we can operate." Julio stated with urgency.

"That is not a problem," Matt said, "You can use mine. We have the same blood type."

"This wound could still be infected," Carmen added as she glanced over Roxanne's leg, "I'll start her off with antibiotics, while you prep the equipment."

Julio nodded in agreement "Let get her inside shall we."

"I'll…" Scott started to say before Matt put a hand on his shoulder.

"I got this. You and Annie head inside and relax. You're both exhausted after pushing yourself to your limits with this mission. Once you sister is situated I want to be briefed on everything that happened."

Matt picked up Roxanne in his arms and carried her inside, with Scott and Annie following behind. Annie knew Scott attention was directed on his sister as he stood there watching her being carried upstairs. Instead of standing around, she headed over to Matt study and plopped down on the leather couch. She pulled out her cell phone and glanced at who called, but quickly realize she should have chucked it out the window instead. Annie scrolled thought her phone history Falcon called her several times most likely about Scott whereabouts. Then Cross Country called her, again Falcon probably figure she'd be more open with him. She notice her father called too, but he was probably wondering where the hell she's been at over the last 24 hours. It was all a reminder of yet again, she was drag into a middle of another mess situation.

'Everything Ok.I'm at Matt's. Talk later. ' Annie text to her father hoping not to worry him any further and keeping things as vague as possible to avoid questions.

"Who you texting?" Scott said plopping down in a padded leather arm chair.

"Just my dad…nosy," Annie replied in a slightly irritated voice.

"You have to understand Annie," Scott said with reason, "if anybody else knows that Roxy here, everything will have been for nothing."

"I get it really I do," She admits, "But part of me still not convince this is the right thing to do."

"Annie please," Scott gave her the look as if she was his only hope, "Give it some real thought before you do anything."

"Fine," she reluctantly agreed. "I'm exhausted and beyond confused as to what just happened in the last 24 hours. I need sleep...and if I'm still not sitting right with this after that, I'm telling G.I. Joe. We're going to have to tell them something eventually..."

"I guess that's all I can ask for," Scott said with a half yawn dropping the subject and let his eyes shut.

Annie laid out on he couch and was surprise Scott didn't argue more with her. Instead of dwelling on it further, she shut her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Roxanne slowly opened her eyes looking around at her surroundings. She had no idea where she was, but the smell made her think of home. She turned her head sideways letting her vision adjusted to some pictures frames set up on the table nearby. One of the images she recognized to be her mother. The other was from 5 years ago. It had her, Matt, and Scott on a vacation in Japan. She tried to reach for the frame but notice her arms were held down with velcro restrains. Roxanne groaned with frustration.

"It's alright," Carmen gently put a hand on her, "Roxanne do you know where you're at?"

"I'm…." She glance more around the room picking up every detail to ensure her answer, "home."

Carmen smiled, "Do you know who I am?"

Roxanne replied with a nod, "How I get here?"

"That's a story for another day. How do you feel?"

"Like somebody punched me in the face," Roxanne admitted, "Why am I tied down?"

"Just temporary I promise. It's for your own good and everyone else. I'm sure you understand."

Roxanne just nodded, "Where dad and Scott? I need to see them."

"Well the doctor hasn't ordered any visitors yet," Carmen admitted, "but I'll see if I can find them around here."

Annie awoke to the sound of chit chat just outside the study door. She noticed somebody had stopped by while she was asleep and draped a blanket over her and that Scott was no longer in the room. Annie pulled herself up off the couch and headed over to where she was hearing voices.

"So you're saying Extensive Enterprises suddenly just drop their bid for Trakker Industries?" Scott Trakker said shocked by the sudden news.

"Yeah," Matt Trakker reaffirmed, "It was so sudden. I have a feeling from what you told me Contra World was feeding money to Extensive Enterprises. When they felt Jon was double crossing them they probably pulled their bid and decided to ruin him for good."

"Could you two be any louder?" Annie question as she opened the study door.

"Sorry about that," Scott admitted, "I was filling dad in on all the details."

"Sure you were," Annie said sarcastically knowing Scott probably left certain things out.

"Mr. Trakker?" Carmen called for as she walked down the stairs.

"Yes?" Both Matt and Scott replied at the same time

"Uh yeah," Carmen spoke trying to hide a slight giggle after getting a reply from both Trakkers, "Roxanne is asking for you both. I told her I'd bring you up."

Matt and Scott headed up the stairs to the second floor, but Scott halted part way as he saw Annie still standing there with her arms crossed, "You coming?"

Annie glared back at him, "She wants to see you two...she didn't say a thing about me."

"Please Annie," Scott pleaded, "You'll see she's better."

"Fine, I'll go. But not because I expect a change..."

Scott smiled softly and waited for her to join him on the stairs, before continuing forward.

Right before Matt and Scott were to enter Roxanne's room Annie felt herself hesitating to enter the room. Yes she agreed to give Scott a chance to prove that Roxanne was in fact better, but she had no desire to actually see her. She could already see how this would turn into the same old poor Roxy routine and wanted to be spared from having to see her crocodile tears. "I think I'll wait out here," Annie stated pulling up a chair just outside the door. Scott opened his mouth as thought he was going to say something, but knew this was probably the best he could ask for.

Annie crossed her arms and legs waiting to hear this so called sob story; I can't believe I'm sticking around for this. At least I'll be here to pry her off both of them if she's anything like she was yesterday.

Roxanne attention drifted towards the door as she saw it opening, "Dad? Scott?"

"We're here," Matt said approaching her bedside with Scott following.

"You're looking much better today," Scott said in an attempt to cheer her up.

"Don't feel like it," Roxy replied knowing where the black eye and gunshot wound came from, "But I guess I have Annie to thank for that."

"Seriously," Annie grumbled under her breath and from behind the door, "You deserved it."

"You got kind of out of hand," Scott said in Annie's defense.

"I know," Roxanne agreed, "Just don't let her gloat over it too much."

"You seem like your old self," Matt said rubbing her hand.

"For now," She admitted with a bit of sorrow in her tone, "but that is part of the reason I need to talk to you. I don't expect forgiveness for the crimes I have committed."

"But you weren't yourself," Scott reminded, "You had no idea what you were doing on those drugs."

"Scott let me finish," Roxanne quietly demanded, "I knew I was breaking the law when Jon Mayhem approached me. I just didn't know how to get away from him or tell him no."

"Roxanne," Matt interrupted, "I know all about you making a contract with Jon Mayhem to get Buddy an antidote to save his life back in Mexico. I understand he held you to that."

"I admit that was the stating point to all trouble," Roxanne calmly continued, "Jon approached me after class at NYU and flat out told me he owned me for life because of our prior agreement. I really thought I was cleaver in turning my cheek and telling him he had nothing on me. Yet then he handed me his phone." A stray tear slipped down Roxanne face, but she couldn't even hide that with her arms anchored down. "The video image on the phone was Boulderhill. I saw Buddy, Brad, Dusty, Annie, and you Scott all huddled around that stupid bike that you mention Brad had built." Roxanne could mentally hear Jon words re-echoing into her mind as she trembled and echoed his words out loud, "If he doesn't matter anymore I'll have my man put a bullet in his head, then we'll move on to the musician and so forth until you get my point." Roxanne took a deep breath trying to regain her composure, "He had a sniper staking out Boulderhill gas station. I had no choice but to agree to do his dirty work."

Out in the hallway, Annie leapt up, barely able to resist the urge to run into the room and break her chair over Roxanne's head to put an end to her misery. The only thing that stopped her was the thought that Scott would never forgive her...and that Roxanne truly had been out of her mind. Still, she couldn't set aside the all consuming anger, not after what she'd just heard.

She then sunk back down in the chair, wrapping her arms around herself, shivering slightly at the revelation that she might have taken an unseen bullet so many years ago. She remembered that day clearly...Phoenix's christening...her 21st birthday. Even though she'd been riding since 18, Phoenix was the first bike she actually owned, her birthday present built from the ground up by Buddy and her father. She vividly remembered the unsettling feeling that something wasn't quite right when she saw some refracting light in the distance. She pushed it aside as nothing when the light disappeared and chalked it up to nervous energy, especially when Brad challenged her to a race on Condor. Now she knew better...

"Why didn't you say something to me or Buddy?" Matt asked Roxanne.

"Jon was watching me very close. I never could get a moment to myself. I foolishly thought I could stick it out 'til the holiday break, then I could tell you everything and ease this burden," Roxanne explained, "But you remember I didn't come home for Thanksgiving."

"Yes, you told me you had exams to study for," Matt replied.

"Doctor Anderson showed up outside my door a week before I was scheduled return home," She recollected, "He told me he was in town and was checking up on me. I didn't think anything of it considering I've been force to see him for years. He…gave me something that messed me up pretty bad."

"He had you on a lot of medication," Matt said grabbing some tissue to wipe her eyes from a few more tears that fell down her face, "You were probably experiencing a lot of bad side effects from doing those drugs."

"I had no idea what was happening to me," She confessed. "I'd be out all night working for Jon and not have a single recollection of it. All I knew is when I kept taking those drugs my conscious would stop eating away at me and it left me without a care in the world. It wasn't until I saw Duane's blood on my hands that everything I'd done came back to me. I stupidly called you Scott, forgetting you were still in the hospital no thanks to me. Jon had my place bugged; he was no doubt on his way to get me. I knew what he had planned for me, MASK, VENOM, the world. The only way I knew how to ruin those plans was to take my life, but as fate would have it I failed to even do that."

The anger started to mix with angst as Annie considered that Roxanne had just taken responsibility for the hit on her life. 'I stupidly called you Scott, forgetting you were still in the hospital no thanks to me.' That meant, by extension, she was also responsible for destroying the marriage proposal Scott had planned. Annie could still remember how it felt to hold that ring box...the pain as sharp as ever...

Oh God, what have I done? Annie wiped away several tears. I've risked everything I've ever wanted for someone who has done nothing but make my life hell ever since we met. And now once again, it's me facing all the consequences. I know what their all going to say. Poor poor manipulated Roxy...it's okay dear...we understand. We'll make Annie understand too...so that the big mean ol Ranger won't go tell the authorities where you are, or what you've done, or how many lives you ruined...will you, Annie?

Annie stopped with her mental commentary as she noticed complete silence coming from the other room. Matt and Scott were probably having a difficult time as well processing Roxanne confession. She actually admitted her part in everything, yet it was easy to see how Jon was able to manipulate her into do his bidding. Annie let out a deep, ragged sigh and ran her hands through her hair. What am I going to do?

"You know you can go in there," Julio consoled Annie as he approached the door.

"It's better I don't. I don't want to cause a scene." She paused. "Julio, can I ask you something?" Annie asked, feeling very perplexed.

"Sure thing."

"Is she really cured?"

"Honestly," Julio admitted, "She'll never be 100% cured. As long as she sticks to her treatment and is surrounded by friends and family she'll make it through this. I just worry about her doing something stupid."

The first thought that pop into Annie's head was homicidal Roxy killing everyone she ever loved, "What do you mean by that?"

"I'm talking about depression setting in and Roxanne making another attempt on her own life." Julio knew Annie well enough to know she was struggling. "I know that's not what you wanted to hear."

"I got the truth, which is what I expected to hear. Thanks Julio."

Julio pushed open the door to Roxanne's room, "Matt…Scott sorry to interrupt but can I see you out in the hallway for a moment."

"Of course," Matt said kissing Roxanne on the forehead," Be back in a moment."

Once Scott and Matt join Julio and Annie out in the hall way Julio spoke up, "We need to talk about Roxanne condition."

"The drugs are working...right?" Matt asked worried.

"Yes," Julio reassured, "The medication is helping keep that other persona at bay. There is another matter we need to discuss. She pregnant."

Julio could see the jaws were dropping on Matt, Scott, and Annie face. None of them had expected to hear that. "I'm concern naturally," Julio continued to break the stunning looks from their faces, "She's not physically or mentally well to carry a child right now. Carrying this child to full term will put lot of strain on her body and interfere with her recovery. It's also hard to say as well how much the child is affected from her previous drug usage."

"Does she know?" Matt asked thinking long and hard about how he wished this nightmare would end for his daughter.

"No. I wanted you to be in the room when we discuss her options together," Julio replied.

"Let's get his over with," Matt said unpleasantly as he motion for Julio to follow him into Roxanne bedroom.

"I don't believe it," Scott said in an upset tone still standing there numb by what Julio had said, "Doesn't she ever get a break."

"Scott she admitted to getting herself into her own mess, even if it was unwillingly." Annie pointed out as if a break was a last thing she was entitled to.

"Jon Mayhem forced her to do all those things. Somebody would have been dead had she not complied." Scott reminded.

"Somebody is dead…Duane Kennedy remember?" Annie pointed out.

"Jon Mayhem is to blame for that!" Scott raised his voice, "Who the hell is blame now?"

The sound of a voice shouting 'Hello' from downstairs caused Scott to break away from Annie in anger. Annie following in pursuit after him wondering what he was going to do next.

Scott Trakker rushed downstairs to greet Buddy Hawks who suddenly turned up and was waiting in the foyer. Instead of offering a handshake, Scott fist contracted directly into Buddy Hawks face. Buddy staggered backwards into a nearby table shattering the vase that was resting on it. He was completely taken off guard by the unexpected attack.

"WHAT THE HELL SCOTT!" Buddy shouted trying to regain himself and was ready for a second round.

"She's PREGNANT!" Scott words were violently thrown back at him.

Buddy didn't know why he was staring dumbfounded at Annie until Vanessa's taunt from earlier in the week started to circle back to him, "Shit Vanessa called it."

"We worked so hard to get her life back to normal and you had to screw that up for her!" Scott spitted out.

With those words Buddy felt a flare of anger and gave Scott a nice left hook to the face hoping to shut him up. Buddy stood over him, "Let's get something straight I'm not going to up and leave her if that's what you're thinking. You want to blame me for this fine I'll take it, but here's a news fact for you that child may not even be mine. You know what I don't care because I love Roxanne I'm going to do everything I can to protect her."

"Protect her...that must go up to and include backstabbing the rest of us!" Annie threw back wanting to punch Buddy herself, as she thought about confronting him earlier with her suspicions on Roxanne being behind the hit on her life. He had completely shot down her assumption. Let's get one thing straight here little girl, Roxanne had NOTHING to do with that hit on you, got it? So get that idea out of that stubborn head of yours before I step around this desk to get it out myself! "I heard the whole story up stairs. You flat out told me...no, threatened me, that Roxanne had nothing to do with that hit on me. Come to find out she was!"

"Annie she fooled all of us. Nobody had any idea that she was some sort of sleeper agent." Buddy said in protest.

"I did," Annie said, pulling Scott to his feet and adding in a very judgmental voice, "She didn't fool me. You were too wrapped up in her pheromones to see the truth that was right in front of you. This all could have been prevented!"

"Don't even go there," Buddy said knowing that was a sore spot for him. He had thought so many times that if he had done things differently, Roxanne would never have been in that situation.

Buddy pushed past both Annie and Scott indicating he was done fighting with them both.

"Go ahead. Walk away from me. Just like you did the last time." Annie's voice dripped venom. "Screw you Buddy Hawkes...I really DON'T need you. Not if this is how it's going to be."

He halted part way up the stairs and looked directly at Annie disgusted, "You know what Annie...everything isn't always about YOU! So drop the judgmental attitude and grow the hell up!" He threw a look Scott's way and added, "Both of you! If you think this is over, you're dead wrong! Jon's body wasn't where we left it and he's gonna come after Roxanne the first chance he gets!" Buddy's eyes drifted back to Annie as he stormed the rest of the way up the stairs, "So if you're not on our side, get the hell out of here!"

Annie glared up at Buddy's retreating back, stunned into a momentary silence. After a few moments, she regained her composure and muttered under her breath, "Bastard."

"Annie..." Scott jumped in as the yelling died down. "I'd really like to believe we can trust you. Tell me you're truly on our side."

Annie's cell phone started to ring again. She looked at the caller ID and answered it, choosing to ignore Scott's question for the moment. "Hello..."

"Look Princess...you and Prince Charming are in some seriously hot water," hissed a very irritated Lieutenant Falcon from the other end of the line. "One or the other or both of you better meet me down in Boulderhill to explain yourselves or your asses are gonna be mine. Got it?"

Somehow Annie managed to sound completely innocent as she pried for information. "Falcon, what are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Annie. Two hours. I can't stall Duke any longer than that."

Scott looked at her intently as the call disconnected. "Well?"

"Falcon's onto something...and if one of us doesn't meet up with him in two hours, we're toast."

"You know damn well I'm not the one he wants to talk to."

"I know."

Annie started pacing the floor as jumbled and confused thoughts ran through her head. Roxy's medical condition and pregnancy changed everything and turned her whole point of view upside down and right side wrong. She didn't see a way to get G.I. Joe involved without losing everything that was important to her. Or did she...

"Lifeline..." Annie said aloud as an idea occurred to her.

"Annie?"

She turned back to Scott. "Lifeline...G.I. Joe's medic. He could help. He would help."

"Oh Annie," Scott sighed in exasperation, "We've been through this..."

"Scott, hear me out. It's going to be nine months before Roxy's child is born..."

"Oh my God..." Something Annie said triggered Scott's memory of Buddy's rant moments before: Here's a news fact for you: that child might not even be mine. He sank down into the nearest chair. "Roxy's baby could be Jon's..."

Annie knelt down next to him in supplication. "All the more reason to let G.I. Joe help. They'll be able to protect her and see her medical condition all at the same time. They'll have nine months to treat her with Julio's help...with state of the art medical equipment. Nine months to observe her changed behavior with Buddy and Julio's observations to back it up. Nine months to come to their own conclusions about what's right."

"Nine months of being locked up away from home. No way. Jon Mayhem's put her through enough...I'm not tearing her away from her family again. She needs us."

Annie followed Scott as he got up and strode back into Matt's study. "Why won't you compromise with me?"

"Why do you insist on pushing this so hard?"

When he noticed no answer forthcoming, Scott reached under his father's desk and popped open a secret panel. He produced a DVD recording and handed it to Annie. "This is why I don't trust G.I. Joe. And this is why you shouldn't either. That evidence I told you about...it's all on here. Watch that and then ask yourself who's side you should be on."

She looked at her watch. Half an hour of Falcon's deadline had already passed. "How much footage is here?"

"About an hour distilled down to the essentials."

"All right. I owe you this much. And I wouldn't be much of a law enforcement officer if I didn't consider all available evidence."

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet," Annie warned. "I won't know what I'm going to tell Falcon until I see this. You're going to have to trust me to do the right thing."

"You doing the 'right thing' is what worries me, Annie."

"Then you're just plain going to have to trust me. You used to be able to do that."

"Yeah," Scott's voice wasn't filled with confidence. "I did..."

* * *

The door opened to Roxanne's room and in rushed Buddy Hawks sporting a fresh bruise across the side of his faced. He could tell he wasn't too late since tears were rushing down Roxanne face, as if she just heard the news herself from Julio and Matt.

Matt grabbed Buddy by the arm and quietly said, "Buddy there's something you need to know:"

"I already know," He replied removing Matt hand, "Scott was nice enough to give me the message the hard way."

"Scott did that?" Matt said slightly surprise.

"Hey Beautiful," Buddy said moving towards Roxanne removing the restrains off her hands, in order to sit on the side of her bed and hold her in his arms, "Sorry I'm late."

Roxanne sniffled and wiped her eyes, "Just like you."

"Buddy," Matt interrupted, "We were just talking about how it would be in Roxanne best interest to abort this pregnancy."

"That's not your choice," Buddy flat out said still feeling angry from Scott and Annie cornering him downstairs, "It's time for Roxanne to make her own decisions, instead of everyone making them for her."

"Having this child would have serious health compilations for her," Matt pleaded. "Think about her future."

"I am..."Buddy ran his hand through Roxanne hair and cradled her in his arms, "Whatever you decide hon, I'm with you."

"I want to keep our baby," Roxanne said looking up affectionately at Buddy.

"But you don't know," He calmly pointed out, "if the child is mine."

"I refuse to believe anything so wonderful could come from that horrible man."

Buddy smiled softly "Wonderful huh?" Roxanne face blushed deep red and nodded as she felt so much in love with this man.

"I'm going to be honest with you…your still in a lot of danger. Jon Mayhem may still be alive," Buddy added holding her tighter, "We'll have to hide someplace until the baby born and move around a lot. It won't be an easy life. Is this really what you want?"

"Yes…I'm not afraid, as long as you're by my side," She admitted looking directly into his eyes.

Julio and Matt exchange glances feeling discourage by Roxanne commitment to keep the child.

"Where do you think your going to hide?" Matt asked thinking Buddy was out of his mind to even suggest that, "She'll need medical assistance until the child is born."

"I'll figure something out," Buddy replied. "She's not safe here. This is the first place Jon will come looking for her or anybody else for that matter."

Matt nodded painfully seeing the truth in his words.

"Being on the run is not exactly healthy for a pregnant woman," Julio stated, "But I'll see what we can do to ensure mother and child are as healthy as possible before you leave my care."

"Thanks Julio," Roxanne said and then moved her attention over to her father, "Dad?"

By looking at Roxanne and Buddy, Matt could almost see himself years ago with Roxanne's mother Rebecca. They were so much in love and expecting their first child, until Miles Mayhem had come between them. He didn't want that for his daughter. He could tell Buddy had her best interest at heart and would lay down his life for her. Who else could he ask for as her protector? This love between them was going to help her get better and be able to move forward in life. Matt smiled showing that he approved, "I'll support you two anyway I can."

"That means a lot dad," Roxanne said smiling and trying not to shed anymore tears.

"Let's leave these two alone," Matt said to Julio noticing Roxanne snuggling up to Buddy.

The moment Matt and Julio stepped out of the room. Roxanne smiled and caressed Buddy face, "What did I ever do to deserve you in my life?"

"Besides all the teasing. You gave up everything. Nobody has ever done that for me," Buddy place his hand over hers as it rested on his cheek," Life felt so empty without you around, I realize far too late how much you truly meant to me. If that's not love I don't know what else to call it."

With those final words Roxanne and Buddy lips passionately locked together. Both forgetting all their troubles for the moment and remembering how strong their love was for one another.

* * *

"Where the hell is Scott?"

Annie had showered, changed clothes, braided her hair, and pulled on her Rangers jacket before coming down to meet Falcon in the conference room. She shut the door and turned to see him sitting at the head of the table, looking military stern with his hands folded. Annie took a deep breath and copped an uncharacteristic Vanessa-like attitude-which was the only thing that would get her through this.

"How should I know? You called me, not him." She walked over to the table. "Now is this about me or Scott? Because if you're going to grill me about Scott, I'm going home."

"Annie, sit down." Something in Falcon's tone of command forced her to comply. "You need to seriously consider where your future is headed. If you keep trying to protect that boy, he's going to take you right down with him."

"What the hell are you rambling on about?"

"Fine, if this is how you want to play it..." Falcon sighed. "Scott Trakker was AWOL for a mission in California yesterday. We have reason to believe that he interfered with a Classified and Top Secret G.I. Joe mission."

"Why would Scott care about anything G.I. Joe was doing?"

"Because it involved Roxanne."

Annie allowed the expected reaction to fall across her face. "Roxanne?"

"You of all people know how dangerous Roxanne Trakker can be. You found the evidence that linked COBRA to Contraworld. Once Command knew that, the decision was made to handle this mission internally. It was getting too personal for MASK to be involved." Falcon could tell he had Annie's attention as he continued, "Roxanne was not at Contraworld's mountain base when G.I. Joe stormed it. And our pilot Slipstream has gone on record stating he thought he saw a red Camaro flying away from the scene."

"So based on what Slipstream 'thought' he saw, you think Scott was involved?" Annie snorted derisively. "Do you have any proof? Pictures? Radar Signatures?"

"We're still putting all the pieces together," Falcon deflected the question nicely. "But Flint and Lady Jaye are also ready to go on record that they heard unfamiliar voices when they scouted the base ahead of the main party."

"So you have people who thought they saw and heard things...and you've decided to pin something on Scott based on this 'evidence'. Unbelievable." Annie's snort turned to a caustic laugh. "Do you know what Commander Hawkes would do to me if I tried to feed him a line like this? Laugh me out of his office! It's all circumstantial."

Falcon barely even blinked. "Doesn't matter. All we need in military court is AWOL and dereliction of duty to have Scott declared unfit for command and removed from MASK permanently."

"I still don't know why the hell you're telling ME all this. If I didn't know better, I'd swear you and G.I. Joe have been trying to run him out from the beginning."

"You should be leading this team, Annie. Everyone knows it. Including Scott."

"I DON'T WANT TO LEAD THIS TEAM!" Annie jumped up and slammed her hands against the conference room table. "And I have made that abundantly clear to anyone who's been listening! I'm not the MASK expert...Scott is! He's been around this team ever since he was born! He knows this garage and these vehicles inside and out! He can tell you their strengths, weaknesses, which pairings get the best results and which don't. He used to play games with the computer to see if he could come up with the best agents before it did! His family put their blood, sweat, and tears into this team! He's smart, dedicated, loyal...and deserves the chance you're not giving him to prove himself!"

"His actions tell a different story. So unless he's got some kind of airtight alibi, we're getting ready to press charges and issue a warrant for his arrest."

Annie's eyes lit on fire. "G.I. Joe was never going to treat MASK as equals, were they? It was all about pushing Scott out and putting me in as your little token link in the command chain. No wonder Duke and Flint were so hot to recruit me..."

"Annie..."

"How could I have been so naive and stupid as to trust any of you!" she shouted, enraged.

The one person she still might have trusted chose that exact moment to walk through the conference room door. Cross Country approached Falcon with his best poker face and tossed a black box onto the table. "You wanted to know when I was done lookin' at Thunderhawk. She's clean as a whistle inside. No weapons fired either. Just the thrusters, meanin' she's been in the air." He pointed at the box. "Boy Wonder worked that flight recorder for over four hours with no luck...says it's clean erased. Thinks Mainframe and the Pit crew might have better luck."

"Don't bother. I erased it."

Both Joes turned back to Annie, stunned, asking in unison. "You what?"

"You both heard me. I erased it."

"Of all the stupid..." Cross Country could only stare at her in disbelief. "What in the hell has come over you, woman?"

Annie ignored his question and bored her eyes straight into Falcon's. "You want to know why Scott was AWOL? Fine. As embarrassing as it is, I'll tell you. We were having wild, passionate sex in the back of Thunderhawk. The kind that can only come from coming to terms with a long term relationship that's been screwed up and messed about for the past 6 months."

"I'm gonna..."

"Don't leave." Something in Annie's voice stopped Cross Country. "I've got nothing to hide here." She turned back to Falcon. "Scott took off in Thunderhawk and I followed him like I always do. Now...shall I file a written report on every single detail or would you like me to just describe it for you?"

Falcon's military demeanor cracked just a little. "No."

"Then are we done here? Because I'd really like to go home. Back to Tahoe to piece together what's left of my life and my career."

"We're done." Annie turned to go but then stopped as Falcon added, "You know Roxanne is a threat to everyone around her. You don't by chance know where she is?"

She turned back and looked him right in the eye. "No."

"Would you tell me if you knew?"

"Maybe." With that last statement, she shared a glance with Cross Country and walked out.

* * *

Annie cleaned out her locker at Boulderhill of all necessary equipment and took the transport back up to the mansion to gather the few things she'd left behind from that god-awful screwed up mission. She felt as though she could barely breathe from all the built up tension, so she made quick work of her packing and slipped outside. She walked over to where her white Jeep Liberty was parked and loaded her gear, closing the hatch in time to see Scott approaching from the side yard.

"You're not taking Phoenix?" he asked as a casual conversation starter.

"No." She walked over to the driver's side of the Jeep, keys in hand. "I don't plan on taking on any missions for a little while."

Scott shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans nervously. "Annie..."

"I didn't tell G.I. Joe anything about Roxanne."

"I know. I was just talking to Dad and he said G.I. Joe Command has suddenly gone very quiet. What did you tell them?"

She jangled her keys and sighed. "That you and I were making up and out in the back of Thunderhawk."

"Wow." For a brief moment, Annie saw a flicker of Scott's crooked "bad boy" smile that he often used in the bedroom, but it quickly faded. "Tha-"

"Don't!" She struggled to keep her voice level and diplomatic. "Don't thank me. Don't tell me how much this means to you...don't tell me how it's for the best...don't tell me all about how great it's going to be for your messed up sister! I just died inside because I've betrayed everything that's ever meant a damn thing to me! My conscience may end up literally killing me. And for what? Someone who's made me nothing but miserable!"

"Annie, it'll be different-"

With all the shouting going on outside it caused Roxanne Trakker to cautiously glance out her bedroom window. She could see Scott and Annie fighting as usual, but this time she was pretty certain it was about her.

Different he says? Annie thought before she realize they were not alone in this conversation. Her eyes shifted to the mansion's second story window and caught glance of Roxanne poorly hiding behind a curtain watching them.

Roxanne could see the anger and hurt that filled Annie eyes and diverted her own eyes and head downwards to the ground. How could she ever apologize or make up for all the hurtful things had done?

"No," Annie shook her head and focus her attention back to Scott, "Not for me it won't. Not for a long time, and maybe not ever. So don't expect me to sit around here and watch the 'poor miserable Roxy' show. I've had enough. I'm done." She could feel tears welling up and forced her voice to stay steady. "I always told you I'd never make you choose between us...that if it came to it, I would step aside and make the choice for the sake of keeping your family together. Tell Roxanne congratulations...she wins. I'm leaving."

"Please don't leave..."

"I'm not changing my mind, Scott. I need to change my pace and go home to my mountains...home to what's left of my life and my career. Home to a simpler place and simpler people. You're just going to have to deal with the fallout on your own for once."

Scott didn't know what else he could say and instead just stood there heartbroken as Annie's jeep pulled away in the distance.

Intense shame overwhelmed Roxanne as she quietly observed Scott standing there stunned. All these years she tried so hard to break up Scott and Annie, but their feelings for one another made them inseparable. She never imagined splitting them up would make her feel so miserable inside. Her hand touched the glass on the window wanting to comfort brother. "I'm sorry Scott," She said softly to herself, "Somehow I'll make this right by both of you."

* * *

"Where the hell is she!" Sly Rax shouted slamming the door behind him, as he and Bruno Shepard entered a run down gas station off Nebraska highway 71.

"Uh..don't know what you talking about sir,"A young man in is early twenties wearing a mechanic uniform replied, "You need me to fill her up?"

Rax grabbed the man's shirt and tore off his shades to show he meant business, "My good friend gonna pound you into little pieces if you don't speak up boy." Bruno started cracking his knuckles, which caused the young man to gulp and sweat.

"Let the poor kid go will ya," Vanessa stated as she walked out the back room with both Cliff Dagger and Floyd Malloy behind her.

Rax loosen his grip on the young man and started to yell, "What's the big idea blowing my cover?! You have any idea how much swimming in that god forsaking swamp I did just to escape that terror dome."

"Not my fault your so photogenic," Vanessa smirked wickedly, "Let be honest that's not what's really pissing you off."

"Where's are the vehicles and masks," Bruno demanded, "We know you took them….ALL of them."

"You were right they were gonna come crawling to your doorstep begging," Floyd chuckled under his breath.

She ignored Floyd's comment and said in a sweet greedy voice, "We can come to some sort of arrangement. That is assuming you'll work for me."

"WHAT! NEVER!" Sly Rax huffed.

"Well can't help you…"She started to turn her back to him.

"Wait!" Rax gritted his teeth, "What exactly are you proposing?"

"With both Mayhems out of the way," Vanessa replied, "VENOM will be mercenaries for hire. You'll get a cut in the profits and access to your vehicle and mask. There's nothing sour about this deal. The only stipulation is your orders come from me."

"That doesn't sound so bad. That's better then what Mayhem ever gave us." Bruno said willing to accept the deal.

"You know he's still alive right…I mean both Mayhems are still alive." Rax pointed out.

Vanessa cross her arms and gave him a look showing that she really didn't care, "Miles probably weak on his last leg rotting in cell, while Mayhem junior is living off a respirator. Yeah I'm really shaking in my boots." She added with a hit of sarcasm. "Now is the time to reintroduce VENOM to the world. MASK is still in disarray and Gi Joes has their hands full with Cobra, they won't give a crap about us. So you in?"

"You always said you wanted a dominatrix to rule you life," Bruno pointed out, which cause Sly Rax to shoot him an angry glare.

"Fine," Sly Rax reluctantly said seeing no other choice, "I'm in."

Vanessa smiled wickedly, "Welcome gentlemen to a new era of VENOM."

The end for now….


End file.
